Sword Art Online: Step By Step
by DragonKnightRyu
Summary: With the International release of Sword Art Online, more players are trapped within the [Death Game], now, trapped within the virtual reality they must work past the barrier of nationality and get through Aincrad, one step at a time.
1. First Floor Pt 1: Death Game

Disclaimer: Buy the official release, which this is not.

* * *

 **Edmonton, Alberta**

* * *

A brown haired, brown eyed, twenty something year old man with glasses sitting on his face chuckled as he picked up the helmet like connection for the NerveGear, tossing it between his hands a bit as he looked over to his TV where a News Station was covering the release of a new game.

" _Today is an excitement filled day as the first ever Virtual Reality MMO Game: [Sword Art Online] is being released to stores worldwide!_ " the news reporter announced. " _With over a Million hard copies being sold on the first day alone, and triple that of Digital Downloaded copies, people are naming this as the resurgence of PC Gaming that almost didn't happen for the world outside of Japan. The game's creator,Kayaba Akihito, had originally planned to release it within Japan but world interest was so large, he changed his plans and announced a worldwide release, delaying the games release for a few months to upgrade the servers to allow more players at once!_ "

The man chuckled a little as he turned off the TV and put on the NerveGear before laying down on his bed. "Glad I got the week off for this," he muttered to himself as he watched the clock tick by slowly, waiting for the chance to load up the new game. "Just wish I had gotten to beta test it."

He rolled his shoulders as the seconds slowly ticked towards 1:00 Japan, although for him that was closer to nine in the evening, he let out a calming breath as he relaxed on his bed.

Finally the clock hit twelve and he smirked. "Link… start!" he commanded, activating the interface, a shudder running down his spine as his body slowly became numb to the world around him, the light fading from his vision as the noise of the nearby highway became muffled.

There was a second or two of absolute darkness and numbness before light exploded into his vision as the Full Dive started, streamers of color swarming around him as the NerveGear tested the assorted senses ensuring that it was working properly before prompting the language, which he set to english, and logged in before entering in his Username [DragonKnightRyu].

The white screen when blank for a moment before a large banner welcoming him to sword art online flashed before him, bringing him to the character creation screen, which he quickly went through, taking his own base model - which he admitted he was kinda chubby looking at, not the 'Otaku Gamer' type chubby, but rather a beer gut type chubby, but, still, he quickly removed that.

He winced as he saw how unkempt his hair looked before changing it to a shorter cut and removed the stubble that had been building up replacing it with a smooth face. Looking over the Avatar he quickly changed the hair color to a whitish silver color while changing the eye color to red.

Finally he came to the character name as he let out a hum before shrugging and going with his own personal favorite of 'Six' it made no sense, but hey, it worked for him.

Satisfied he hit the confirm Avatar button causing the screen to white out for a moment before going black making him blink, the motion causing his virtual eyes to open.

"Holy *Bleep*," he muttered looking around at the ultra-realistic city around him before pausing as he considered what just happened. "Goddamn censorship!"

Shaking his head as more and more people spawned around him he grinned as he looked forward. "Let's see what we got!" he shouted out before charging forward into the city.

* * *

 **United States, South Carolina**

* * *

"This is gonna be AWESOME!" A young man in his twenties, with short brown hair and brown eyes said, as he spun around in his swivel chair, his NerveGear in his hands as he eagerly awaited for the clock to hit 1:00 PM Japan Time. "I just hope they took in some of my ideas from the Beta… yeah sure its called Sword Art Online, but it would be nice to have some variety outside of swords… bows, axes, and such. Mix things up a bit. If combat becomes too repetitive no one will wanna play it for too long."

His chair came to a stop, as he did a quick check across his room that he had all that he was gonna need for a full week of gaming with no interference from work. ' _Some may call this a waste for vacation hours,_ ' he thought grinning, ' _But I disagree… alright, Root Beer: Check. Bagel Bites: Check. Pizza Roles: check. Chicken Tenders: Check. Music and videos..._ ' he glanced at his computer as he grinned as his entire music and video library was now downloaded, so he could play them while in SAO. "Double Check."

The Alarm went off, indicating it was finally 1:00 PM. He turned off the alarm, before he put his NerveGear upon his head, as he plugged it in. "Showtime." He said, as he stood up from his chair, and lied down on his bed. He activated the headset as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Here goes… Link… START!"

He felt himself go almost completely numb, as his vision began to blur and fade to black. Then there was a near blinding explosion of light as data streamed around him before he was presented with the game options. After selecting everything he needed, the game allowed him to input his old Beta account. Once he hit the 'okay' button, he was greeted by a line of text.

 _Welcome to Sword Art Online!_

There was one more blinding flash of blue and white light, before suddenly he was enveloped in a ball of blue light, and he suddenly found himself in a city. He blinked a few times before he gave a few experimental movements, ensuring all was well. He glanced around, as he smirked as he saw the city surrounding him. He grinned, his Avatar possessing short spiky black hair and crimson red eyes. "Hello Aincrad!" He shouted, as more players began spawning in. "I'm BA-CK!"

* * *

 **United States, South Carolina**

 **Elsewhere**

* * *

A man in his 20s was setting up the NerveGear in his room as he eagerly wanted to play the grand world opening of the MMO that is _Sword Art Online_. He was a bit overweight along with some muscle to add. He had a black caesar haircut, a beard, dark brown eyes and tan skin. After a few minutes he was finally finished and he started to look at the helmet like NerveGear.

"Man I can't believe how far we gotten with video games. We went from 8 bit to virtual reality gaming. What a time to be alive." He said with a small laugh before laying down on his bed. After that he sigh.

"This damn game better be worth the $1000 Nervcrap or I'm going to kick Jordan's ass with it" He said before he looked at his phone which indicated, it was 1pm.

"Alright it's showtime. Link… Start!"

After the system linking he was standing in the character creation zone and looked over his options.

"Okay the usual strength and endurance investments is now set, time for the appearance. Hmm...I want to make Blair but I rather not be one of SAOs first G.I. so I guess I will make her gender bender Libra."The man said as he set the hair to be shoulder length along made it look bed ragged and loose. Then he made the characters eyes green and made the build for the body average.

"Okay I think that's about it." He said as he put in the name Libra and touched the start button on the HUD. He was then transfer to a field close to a town and was wearing chainmail armor without a helmet. He had a round blue wooden shield and an iron longsword. He started to look at his surroundings and was amazed with what he saw and gasped a little as he saw his new appearance in the reflection coming out of his sword.

"So this is SAO. I might as well start practicing my shield and sword skills before I try tanking." He said as he started walking toward a group of weak lv1 boars with shield and sword ready.

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later**_

* * *

"Alright! I think I got the hang of this." He said as he did a shield bash on a boar that was charging him causing it to be stunned for a moment before he stabbed the head of the boar with his sword.

"Okay so that makes about 20 hides and 10 boar meats. Better try to sell the meat and try my luck on blacksmithing." He said before he saw another player killing his own group of boars. From there he recognize the players name and started walking toward it. As he approached he saw that the player was a male with black spiky hair with red eyes and his armor matched his color, with the red being the trim for the armor and rest being black. He waited for him to finish killing the boars before he finally spoke to him

"I see you're still going with your edgy colors Shadow the Hedgehog" He said to the player with a smug face.

"Oi! These are the colors of the Angry Joe Show Army you son of a-" 117Jorn began to shouted, before he turned around, and blinked as he saw the name over his head. "Wait… Dennis? Dude, is that you?"

"The one and only!" Dennis said with his arms spread before he lowered them. "So have you found the others?"

"No luck yet," Jordan said sighing, "I know DKR has to be around here somewhere… "

"Maybe he went ahead and is in the town below. It's possible he went to the town's center thinking he could find us there. The map says that is where a lot of players are gathering" Dennis said as he enlarged the map from his hud.

"Okay that's cool." Jordan said nodding. "But Dennis... I wanted to ask but why is your character called Libra and why does he look familiar?" Jordan said with his hand on his chin

"Oh this?" Dennis asked gesturing to himself. "Well I wanted to make Blair but I didn't want be a G.I.R.L yet so I just gave this character the same looks she has but male. Anyway I noticed your armor is a light leather and you're carrying a short sword, are you trying to be a myrmidon like class from _Fire Emblem_?"

"As much as I love Lon'qu from _Awakening,_ no." Jordan said with a smirk, as he put his sword away and then pulled out a set of throwing knives "I can't believe it, but they atually took in some of my ideas! They don't just have swords anymore, they've got a few alternatives like axes, spears and such. No bows yet, but I'm making due with throwing knives. I'm setting myself up to be something like a Ranger, Assassin or something like that… if I'm REALLY lucky I can craft the Assassin's Creed hidden blades… the possibilities in this game are endless!"

He then gestured to Dennis. "What about you?" He asked, "What are you trying to be with that chainmail?

"Oh simple, I am trying to be heavy knight class for tanking once our team is together." Dennis said. " I read that some weapons have strength requirements and that endurance affects equipment and how much you can carry. So it seems like this was taken something from _Dark Souls_ because if so I can swing around a giant sword like the Zweihänder one handed and move around with heavy armor as if it was light."

"Nice," Jorn said nodding before he activated the menu. "Alright, sending ya the party invite - let's start kicking ass... And then find the others. I'm pretty sure Ryu said he got the game, so he should be around here somewhere..."

"Okay, Cool." Dennis said as he accepted the invite. "Let's get going!"

* * *

 **Japan, Tokyo**

* * *

"Don't get so absorbed in your game that you forget to come for dinner, Sacchi!" a voice called out from the lower floor of the house.

"Right!" a teenaged girl called back as she tried to restrain herself from savaging the box in front of her to liberate its contents.

Prominently marked on the box was the logo for the newest virtual reality game to ever grace the shelves of shops across the world - Sword Art Online. After uselessly trying to open it with her hands, she gave up and retrieved a penknife from her desk and had it open in seconds.

She took a few seconds to realize her moment of stupidity and hurriedly blaming it on her exuberance. Setting it aside for now, she quickly cracked the casing open and pulled out the memory card that contained all of the vital files for the game.

"I can't wait!" she squealed, slotting the card into the appropriate slot of her computer.

She then practically jumped onto her bed in glee, tucking away her waist-length black hair safely off to the side before pulling on the NerveGear, making sure it sat comfortably on her head and on her pillow. Her wide, brown eyes reflected in the machine's visor for a moment - she stopped, took a look at her reflection before winking at it happily.

"Come on… 1:00pm, come faster!" she whispered excitedly, drumming her fingers on the side of her bed.

The clock ticked 12:58pm. She sucked in a deep breath. The Nerve Gear started humming.

The clock ticked 12:59pm. She let the breath out, her face slightly blue from lack of oxygen.

The clock ticked 1:00pm. She pumped her fist in the air, closed her eyes and practically yelled out the phrase that started up the Nerve Gear.

"LINK START!"

Her vision went white as a bunch of multicoloured cylinders appeared in front of her, zooming in closer and past her field of view. It was an odd sensation to her - she couldn't turn her head to follow them as the Nerve Gear hadn't completely booted up and linked to her senses yet. That quickly changed as the interface appeared before her, checking off on each of the five senses before going white again.

And that was when she found the character creation menu floating in front of her, requesting her IGN first. After a few moments of thought, she inputted 'Sayaka' into the field and hoped that no one had picked it yet. She did want her original name in there after all…

A bell rang somewhere, and the window flew away to be replaced by the character customization. A character model reflecting her original looks in the real world appeared, and Saya chuckled as she set about customizing it. She kept her hair the same, but added on a bit of height and turned her curves down a bit - she was a little self-conscious about being an early bloomer after all. For her starting weapon, she picked a standard sword.

"Come on… hurry up!" Saya whispered, jumping up and down in her excitement.

Her vision went white again, the words 'WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE' displayed proudly across her vision on a grey background.

Saya whooped, but it went unheard as the screen dissolved into particles and reformed to show the starting area in the very first city in the game. She blinked a few times, taking in the scenery around her, the buildings which looked like they had come out of an ancient city. The architecture seemed to be a mix of Arabesque and medieval European styles, the former coming as a bit of a surprise to her. Argus had really done a great job with the game…

"Finally!" Saya jumped into the air and squealed happily, ignoring the looks she was getting from the players around her who had just logged in to the game - most of them were similarly excited as well, so why should she care?

She paused for a moment and held up her right hand, making a downward swiping motion with her pointer finger extended like how she had read in the guidebook. A bell rang as the ingame menu appeared floating in the air before her. She let out a small startled squeak, but her surprised look morphed to elation as she began checking out the stats she had started out with. The standard plethora of stats greeted her - STR, AGI, DEX and VIT.

"Alright, off to the field!" she cheered to herself, having checked her virtual wallet and found it barely sufficient for anything but a few health potions.

* * *

 **Aincrad, First Floor Field**

* * *

"Ole!" [DragonKnightRyu] shouted out tauntingly as he slashed his dagger at the flank of a boar as it charged past him doing a mediocre amount of damage as it turned to face him, snorting angrily.

Ryu smirked as he prepped the [Dagger] Sword Skill Swift Strike, the starting [Dagger] Skill that was a single charging strike.

Once the preparation motion was completed he surged forward slashing the flank of the Boar as he moved past him, the Boar's health bar bleeding into red before hitting zero, causing it to explode into a series of fragments. "Booyah *bleep*!" [DragonKnightRyu] shouted as he did a little jig before pausing. "Ah *bleep* you censorship!"

Rolling his shoulders [DragonKnightRyu] skipped a little in place as he looked around. "Hmm, might be a good idea to take a look at some [Quests] now that I got the basic [Sword Skills] down," he mused to himself as he began strolling towards [Starting City] with a wide grin. "This should be fun."

As he walked - skirting the edges of the [Wild Boar]'s aggression zone - he chuckled at the sight of a red haired player wearing a bandanna getting his ass kicked by a boar as a black haired player watched on in amusement.

He was soon back in the city, navigating through the crowds of players and NPCs, looking for a quest giver to get started with.

He soon found one - an innkeeper with a rather large belly. "You've got to help me stranger, I'm running low on meat and the customers are getting hungry, can you get me a dozen slabs of [Boar Meat]?" The NPC questioned hopefully, prompting a screen to appear before [DragonKnightRyu].

《Quest found, gather 12 slabs of [Boar Meat] for the innkeeper! Accept? Y/N》

Shrugging He hit the 'Yes' to accept the quest causing the innkeeper to thank him profusely.

Walking away [DragonKnightRyu] couldn't help but admire the effort that was put into the game. Everything was done in a painstakingly perfect detail, from NPC voice recognition algorithms to even something as simple as water flow, it was easy to forget that all of this was only virtual reality.

Small things added to the effect, NPCs reacting to small things in a myriad of ways, range from polite to wrathful.

Scanning the crowd [DragonKnightRyu] smirked at the assorted interactions as he headed for the town limits, keeping an eye out for [Party Forming] icons that were automatically generated when someone was looking for a party for the same quest you had in your [Active Quest] slot.

Looking around he spotted a black haired asian looking girl looking around her in confusion, scratching her head as if trying to figure something out.

Taking a wild guess he called out. "Hey, are you lost?" he asked as he stepped closer to ensure that she knew it was her he was talking to.

"A-AH!" the girl took a step back in surprise and ended up banging her head against a wall behind her. "Itai!"

An Immortal Object sign popped up at the point of impact.

"I would ask if you're okay… but there's no pain in this game," [DragonKnightRyu] pointed out as he scratched the back of his head. "But still, sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"Eh? Oh, you're right…" the girl blinked a few times, rubbing the back of her head where the pain should have been. "That's convenient…"

"Yeah, tell me about it," he agreed. "My character name's Six, by the way, but most people just call me Ryu cause of my user name."

"Character name? User name?" she tilted her head sideways in confusion.

"Well, character name is the name for individual characters, although I think that's going to disappear with SAO," Ryu answered, trailing off into mutters towards the end before shaking his head. "And as for the Username, I use DragonKnightRyu as a Username for a _lot_ of my online personas."

"Oh, I was confused because SAO only uses your email instead of a user name…" the girl laughed sheepishly.

Ryu chuckled along with her, just as sheepish as he scratched at his cheek. "Yeah, that's my bad, sorry," he apologized. "Anyways, you were looking a little lost there, do you need some help?"

"Ah, well…" the girl ducked her head in shame. "I… can't find the way to the fields…"

"Yeah, the [Starting City] is pretty big isn't it?" Ryu commented as he opened up his menu. "Well, I'm heading there to collect [Boar Meat] for a quest, want to party up?"

"I guess I can do that for a while…" she nodded happily. "O-Oh, where are my manners? I'm Sayaka."

"A pleasure to meet you Sayaka," Ryu returned as he sent the party invite. "There we go, unfortunately, you ended up on the opposite side from the fields so…"

"Well, it's fine, I'd like to explore the city a bit more too," Sayaka replied with a smile, looking around her at the buildings. "The designers put a lot of detail into everything that it's just all so interesting to just look at."

"I agree," Ryu said with a nod as he looked up into the sky. "Honestly, this full dive is amazing technology, it's easy to forget this isn't IRL."

"I completely agree!" Sayaka squealed. "I mean, all the full dive games I played before were already interesting, but SAO is just pushing the limit!"

"Honestly, I think those were just to show off possibilities," Ryu admitted. "Kinda like the starting games for the launch of a new system and Kayaba put all his effort into SAO to make it the groundbreaker for NerveGear."

"Yeah! Although I kind of wish the full release didn't get delayed so long…" she sank slightly at the thought. "I feel like I've been missing out on something important in my life…"

"Personally, I'm a okay with the delay, it means I'm able to play the game right now!" Ryu announced with a cheerful laugh.

"... Oh, you're not from Japan?" Sayaka gaped. "I'm sorry for being rude!"

Ryu waved it off. "No need to be worried, I'm Canadian, behind our polite and apologetic venier we're just as rude and crass as the rest of the world," he informed jokingly. "I take it you're from Japan then?"

Sayaka nodded sheepishly. "The Japanese actually weren't too happy that SAO had to be delayed just for the additional international players… or _gaijin_ as we call them."

"Bah, I could care less what people think of me or call me," Ryu admitted with a shrug. "For me, this is more than a game, I think this is a good way to break down the racial barriers and interact with one another without knowing one's true ethnicity or nationality."

"I don't subscribe to the xenophobia either," the girl sighed. "But some of the people who do could give you some trouble in the future…"

Ryu waved it off. "Despite my thuggish appearance, I am actually pretty good at talking my way out," he informed. "It's really simple actually all you need to do is- HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT!?"

A startled Sayaka jumped and started looking around hurriedly.

"And then when they're distract I just run away and hide until they give up," Ryu continued with a shit eating grin on his face. "Simple, no?"

Sayaka started shaking in her boots as she spun around and put her hands on her hips. "Ryu-san, that was mean!" she scolded.

Ryu raised his hands in a placating manner as he chuckled. "Forgive me, forgive me," he said. "I can't help but do that, it's always been fun to see people react like that."

"Hmph!" Sayaka folded her arms, pouted and looked away from Ryu in a small fit.

Ryu chuckled weakly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I got about [100 Col], that should be enough to buy a new weapon if you want?" he offered. "For forgiveness?"

"Hmph," Sayaka muttered, with a little less intensity.

"Right… let's see if we can find a weapon shop," Ryu muttered with a defeated sigh. "So, what kind of build are you thinking of doing for your character?"

"I…" Sayaka paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "I don't like big, heavy weapons, but I just want something that can hit fast."

Ryu hummed. "Well, for starter weapons that leaves [Daggers] and [Light Curved Swords] for quick hitters," he informed. "I've been using a [Dagger] and it's skills cool down quickly but you need to really precise and try to hit as many critical points as you can to do real damage, or chain combos together."

"Daggers don't have the reach I want," his impromptu party member shook her head. "I guess… curved swords then."

Ryu nodded. "Alright then, I think the weapon merchant is right around… here?" he said as he looked around. "Maybe?"

"Er… Ryu-san, don't tell me you're as lost as I am…" the black-haired girl stared at Ryu incredulously.

"Uh…" Ryu responded as he mentally cursed himself out. "Wait…" he declared as he spotted a sign with a sword emblazoned upon it. "Ha! Knew it was around here!"

"You still didn't exactly know it was here…" Sayaka's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the male.

"It counts so long as we're there," Ryu said proudly. "Everything else is just a scenic detour!"

"So… you were lost," Sayaka muttered.

"Not lost, on a scenic detour." Ryu rebutted automatically.

"Lost!" the girl shot back.

"Detour!" the man retorted.

"Lost!"

"Detour!"

"Sooo lost!"

"Veeeery Scenic!"

"Completely lost!"

"Completely scenic!"

The two of them continued arguing all the way until they were in front of the weapons shop, completely ignoring the stares from the other players around them.

"Look, we're here, isn't that good enough?" Ryu asked as he opened the door to the weapon's shop. "Or do you _not_ want the [Light Curved Sword]?"

"Fine!" Sayaka groaned out loud, stepping up to a counter and looking for the most expensive weapon she could equip, or possibly equip in the near future. She tapped on each sword on the rack to check their stats.

As she was doing that Ryu was looking through the collection of [Daggers], seeing if there was anything that stood out as he waited for Sayaka to make her choice. ' _I want to do a Dodge Tank Role,_ ' he thought to himself as he looked over the stats of a [Heavy Dagger]. ' _So with the five stats points given at each level I'll be putting two into strength and three into agility, so that can only afford me the light-class sword and daggers for my own use, maybe a shortsword of some kind?_ '

Sayaka was studying the stats of a Japanese-style wakizashi - it was better than her default [Light Iron Curved Sword]. She didn't quite fulfill the stat requirement to wield it yet, but it would only take two levels to get her STR up high enough. So yes, she was definitely interested in it.

"Made a choice?" Ryu asked as he came up to her.

Sayaka just kept staring at the sword and its hefty (for her) price tag of several hundred col.

Ryu hummed as he looked at the price before opening up his inventory and looking through it. "Hmm, picked up a lot of junk and material items earlier when I was testing out the sword skills," he muttered. "Wonder if it's enough to cover the costs…"

"W-Wait, really!?" the girl took a step back and stared at Ryu incredulously.

Ryu raised an eyebrow. "What, said I'd get you a weapon you wanted right?" he retorted. "It's pretty obvious from your stare that's the sword you want."

"But… it's a bit on the expensive side…" Sayaka muttered, pulling up her menu and staring at her virtual wallet which currently only had two zeroes in the number.

Ryu shrugged. "Eh, so what, not like I can't make the money back after a few hours of grinding," he returned. "Plus, I totally understand, your countrymen know how to make kick ass swords."

The girl was stunned for a moment, before she quickly recomposed herself. "O-Of course! We Japanese make way better swords than you Westerners can, after all!" she declared, putting her hands on her hips triumphantly.

Ryu laughed in response. "That is true, you do make better swords, but our booze is leagues ahead of yours," he countered as he moved to the NPC trader and began to sell all his collected junk and material items.

"Ryu-san… I'm underaged," Sayaka blinked.

"Ah, then you wouldn't know, and I can't brag," he sighed in response. "Oh well, you'll understand when you're old enough."

"How old are you anyway, Ryu-san?" the girl asked as she picked the wakizashi up and started testing its weight.

"Twenty five," Ryu answered easily. "And no, I am not too old to be playing video games."

"How can I be sure you didn't purposely pick an older or younger avatar and lie about your age?" Sayaka narrowed her eyes, doing a few practice swings with the weapon… or trying to. She couldn't swing it anywhere near fast enough to attack with it.

Ryu opened up his menu and moved to personal information before manipulating it so that she could see his age. "See, even with the NerveGear you can't lie, kinda amazing technology really."

Sayaka relaxed slightly, knowing the older male was telling the truth. "Sorry, but it's just that I've seen so many people fake their age and gender in MMOs these days… I'm sure there are a few guys walking around in female avatars too."

Ryu nodded. "I use the female avatars in MMO's too, sometimes anyways," he said with a shrug as he finished selling his items. "Whew, just barely enough."

"Pervert," Sayaka lashed out, but in a slightly teasing tone.

"Hey, all warm blooded humans are," Ryu countered in the same teasing tone. "Men are just more honest about it is all."

"Well, if you did it here in SAO I'd be joking a little less about it," Sayaka rolled her eyes. "At least in non-VRMMOs it's a see but not touch thing."

Ryu nodded in agreement. "Maybe when they patch to allow multiple characters I will, but I'm in no hurry," he admitted as he moved through the purchase menu and selected the wakazashi. "And there, wakizashi purchased, and now to trade it to you!"

"Trade window, trade window…" Sayaka muttered, searching for the trade notification window that was supposed to pop up after a trade was initiated.

Ryu accepted the trade request and moved the wakizashi into the window and hit the trade button. "And one Wakizashi for you," he declared with a grin. "Shall we do some grinding so you can use it?"

"Sure!" Sayaka smiled, accepting the trade.

"Alright to the fields, which are this way!" Ryu declared as they left the shop. "I'm absolutely certain of it!"

* * *

 **Fields**

* * *

"Coming to you!" Ryu called out as he herded a boar towards Sayaka. "Get the skill ready!"

"Right!" Sayaka yelled, raising her curved sword over her right shoulder and lowering her stance just slightly. The weapon began to radiate an orange glow as she settled into the beginning motion for the sword skill Reaver.

The boar squealed as it charged at her, lowering it's head to allow its tusks a proper position to strike at the girl as it charged her directly.

"Hyaaaaah!" Sayaka roared, lowering the sword and dashing forward in a single fast motion, gouging a red trail across the boar's flank.

The boar let off a final squeal before it shattered into fragments, a window appearing showing the gathered EXP and Col dropped by the monster before a window appeared in front of Sayaka declaring a level up.

"Nice!" Ryu declared as he walked up. "That should get you to the point to let you wield the wakizashi, right?"

"Using Sword Skills still feels odd to me though…" Sayaka frowned, sheathing her weapon at her side. "It's like something else is controlling my body when I do…"

Ryu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is pretty strange," he commented with a contemplative look. "I wonder if it'll affect muscle memory? Because our minds think that our body itself is doing the movement…"

The girl paused for a moment as she brought up her menu. "It's a little… scary how powerful the Nerve Gear technology is…" she sighed, materializing the wakizashi Ryu had bought for her in place of her starting sword.

"Tell me about it, heard from a friend in the military, the government wants to use it as a training program," Ryu said with a sigh as he looked through his inventory. "I mean, it actually makes sense if they can do stuff like this," he waved to the scenery around them, enhanced by the light of the setting sun.

Sayaka nodded as she sat down on the grass to watch the sunset. "It feels almost like a real sunset…" she whispered, reaching out with a hand and watching as the shadow on the ground reacted to her hand blocking the waning light.

Ryu let out a sigh as he joined her on the ground, laying back with his hands linked behind his head, closing his eyes as he did so. "There's so much potential to this technology," he muttered absently. "Should be interesting to see what comes of it."

"But… I just wish people would stop fighting wars IRL," Sayaka murmured, wrapping her arms around her legs as she stared out at the sunset. "So much more progress can be done if everyone would just set aside their differences and work together… The Nerve Gear is just an example of that."

Ryu opened his eyes and let out a small sigh. "Believe me, I know what you mean, all that potential, and it's wasted," he said, looking over at her with a grin. "Who knows, maybe Nerve Gear will pave the way to peace?"

"Maybe… is it wishful thinking to hope for such a thing as real world peace now, in this age?" Sayaka rocked back and forth gently.

"Nah, it's called hope, and we all need it if we want to get up and out of bed the next day," Ryu explained. "We need some kind of hope if we're to make a change, so, why not aim big?"

"I… guess you're right, Ryu-san," Sayaka smiled. "It's funny having this kind of discussion with a foreigner though… You speak really good Japanese."

"Hm? But… I'm just talking in English, aren't I?" Ryu asked in surprise as he sat up. "I can speak some conversational Japanese, but… not to this level."

"Eh? But I'm listening to you talk in perfect Japanese…" Sayaka trailed off.

"Really?" Ryu blinked as he stared at her before a light of realization went off. "The Cardinal System's translation function, supposedly it was the biggest reason for the delay in SAO's international release!"

"That's awesome…" Sayaka gasped. "I wonder what happens if I try to speak English? Er… You… me… understand…?"

Ryu nodded before concentrating. "Hai," he responded in Japanese. "Watakushiha suru koto ga dekimasu, imasu ka?(I do, you can?)"

Sayaka groaned and started massaging her throat. "I suck at English," she complained. "And your Japanese does have a really bad accent to it that I can only just barely make out what you're saying…"

Ryu let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah, sorry about that, but your English wasn't the worst I've heard," he commented. "I work for an international company, and the owners are German, some of whom are hard to understand."

"I kind of feel jealous that you don't have to go to school anymore…" his companion sighed. "I still have to get my homework done for the next week…"

Ryu laughed merrily. "I'm kinda jealous that all you have to worry about is homework," he admitted. "Bills, rent, savings, so many things."

"All that sounds complicated…" Sayaka muttered, a bead of sweat rolling down her brow at the thought of having to go through that - although she didn't quite get half of it. "Can I not grow up?"

"Unfortunately, growing up, is an inescapable fact of life," Ryu said with a sigh. "Best you can do is live without regrets."

"Mugyuu."

Ryu blinked at the sound and looked at a disgruntled-looking Sayaka with a pout on her face. "Huh," he said. "Never knew anyone actually made that noise."

"W-What noise?" she hurriedly put on a straight face.

"Some kind of mixture of a moan and a groan," Ryu answered with a grin. "It was something I had heard from anime."

"Ummm… I don't know what you're talking about," Sayaka said, beads of cold sweat trailing down her brow.

Ryu gave her a dry look. "You imitating anime aren't you?" he asked teasingly.

"I'm not?" her eyebrow began twitching.

Ryu smirked wider as he looked at her. "You are, which one is it I wonder?" he continued on slyly.

"Not imitating anime," Sayaka muttered stubbornly.

"I'm just teasing you," Ryu informed with a small laugh. "You get flustered pretty easily, you know that right?"

"I don't!" the girl huffed, raising her voice slightly and turning away from Ryu.

"Hmm… I wonder what that red on your cheeks means," Ryu said perceptively.

"What time is it? I'm getting hungry," Sayaka bluntly attempted to change the subject, still looking away from Ryu.

Ryu opened up his menu. "Hmm, says about six Japan time, damn I need to get some sleep," he muttered.

"Wait, it's already 6?" Sayaka spun around, her eyes widened. "Mum's going to kill me if I go down late for dinner!"

Ryu chuckled. "Before we log off though," he announced as he moved through his menu. "Mind if I send you a friend request?"

"Sure! But what time is it where you are?" Sayaka smiled, pulling up her own menu as well.

Ryu paused for a moment as he did some math. "Somewhere around three in the morning," he declared. "Yup, definitely a good thing I took time off from work."

"Uwaah, that's really far ahead… or is it behind?" Sayaka's eyes widened as she took in the difference in time.

Ryu looked thoughtful for a moment. "Y'know, I'm not sure myself," he admitted. "Either way, I should be around this week, took it off from work as vacation pay," he moved to where the logout option was. "Umm… wasn't there supposed to be a logout button here?"

"Er, yeah?" Sayaka blinked a few times as she searched for the logout button. She found it, but it was missing the 'logout' text…

"Okay…?" Ryu said slowly. "Is it a launch glitch or something?"

"My mum's going to kill me!" Sayaka wailed as she repeatedly mashed the button, achieving no visible effect.

"Well, it's something out of your control right?" Ryu offered helpfully. "Maybe she'll just skin you instead."

"Not helping, Ryu-san!" Sayaka punched Ryu in the arm lightly and returned to her ineffective button mashing. "Log out! Log out!"

"Calm down, it'll be alright," Ryu said soothingly. "I'm sure the developers are busting their asses to fix this as we speak."

"I… I guess so…" Sayaka sighed, finally lowering her hand from the menu.

Ryu blinked as he saw light seemingly gathering around them. "Hey, what's going-" he was cut off as they both disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - with Jordan and Dennis**

* * *

"Boom! Headshot!" Jordan shouted as he scored yet another headshot with his throwing knives, as another wolf hit the floor. "Seriously, they better release Bows and Arrows into this game, or else I WILL riot."

"Yeah that would be pretty stupid if they didn't have those." Dennis said, "But hey do you think there are javelins on SAO? As much as I like doing melee I still need something for range attacks" He said as he slashed two in coming wolfs by their heads before they bursted as data upon death.

"Well I know they have Axes… I haven't seen any stores sell Javelins or Spears yet." Jordan said, "Though the Cardinal System may change that in the future."

"The what?" Dennis asked blinking.

"The Cardinal System," Jordan said grinning, "Possibly the most brilliant thing Kayaba has built into VRMMO games. It basically manages all resources, processes, and events within the game. However the Cardinal in SAO is ten times more advance, as it can generate its own quests based around internet trends, mythology and stories that it acquires from the Internet, creating quests with the ability to completely change the geography of the game itself, even for those not involved in a quest or event. Its even capable of independently looking for bugs in the system, and fixes them itself on the fly with patches _without_ requiring to take down the entire server for maintenance!"

"Is the Cardinal an AI or something?" Dennis asked, sounding a bit wary, but Jordan shrugged.

"Maybe, though the creators of the game say it's not," he said. "It's more like a super-advanced monitoring and updating system, but the possibilities of this system are endless if they continue to patch the game." He smirked a bit, "The best any of the Beta testers like me ever got was floor 10 out of the 100 levels of the game. Just imagine it - the Cardinal System could be changing these levels constantly, so that even the Beta testers won't even know what to expect!"

"Damn that's a mighty system," Dennis said, before he blinked. "But when you say that it follows internet trends does that mean it also follows memes? It's going to be hard to take SAO serious if there's a giant pop tart cat as a raid boss." He cringed at the thought.

Jordan snorted a laugh at that thought, "I'm pretty sure unless the Cardinal system has a sense of humor, we won't have to worry about that." He said, as he looked around the virtual environment. "Either way… with tech like this, the possibilities are endless to what we can accomplish… just imagine what we could have in just a few years, if _this_ is what we are capable of now… hell, we come come to a point where VR and RL come together. Just think about it: A world where as long as you had the imagination, you could build or do whatever you want, and make impacts in the real world!"

"A world of your imagination…" Dennis said somberly. "You know sometimes I want for such a thing when I feel gloomy. There is some depressing messed up crap in IRL that I want to avoid sometimes. I want to be a hero with a purpose while I adventure amazing unexplored lands with only my armor, shield and weapon as protection. IRL just seems to be filled with too much bitterness for stupid crap and not enough living for people, you know?"

"This world isn't easy for people to live in… Real Life I mean." Jordan said, as he leaned against a tree. "No ways to know the rules of goals, yet there are over 7 billion players making their own moves whenever they want. If you lose or even win too much, there are penalties, you can't pass your turn, and if you talk too much you get ostracized. There are no parameters and no way to even determine the genera… the world is just a shitty game."

"Isn't that from No Game No Life?" Dennis asked, and Jordan shrugged.

"Yes, but it's none the less true." He said, "In real life, we say we have rules and goals… but people never seem to follow them, always going off on their own, repeating the same cycles over and over again. Wake up, eat, go to work, socialize with friends, go home, eat, sleep… and the cycle repeats the next day. VRMMORPG's like SAO allows people to at least _feel_ they're doing something exotic, something new and different from that cycle they're trapped in… but in the future, maybe people can use VRMMO's to truly be free from that damned repetitive cycle… and actually make a name for themselves the way they want too."

"Heh, that's another reason I want be in this fantasy world." He said, "I was getting tired of my own repeated cycles as well. To be honest all the training I been doing to try to join the state troopers felt like it would at least give me a purpose and help prevent some innocent people from getting hurt or killed."

"Some?" Jordan asked

Dennis sighed before answering.

"Even I know I cannot help everyone and that the world isn't black or white but dammit I got to try to cull some of senseless violence and killings." He said, "Puerto Rico alone has it the worst in all of the Caribbean despite it's tropical beauty. The cartels use Puerto Rico as part of a drug highway when smuggling their stuff so the island get a fraction of their goods. A couple years back 'Crocodile' hitted the streets and it wasn't pretty"

"What kind of drug is 'Crocodile' Dennis?" Jordan asked.

"It's a heroin drug with a severe necrosis like effect." He explained, "The stuff it is made of is pretty nasty and it is unfortunately highly addictive. I will spare you the details but in the end of the day the users more or less look like ghouls from _Fallout_."

Jordan shook his head. "Why people use stuff like that, I'll never know..." he muttered before he sighed. "Well, I think its time we logged off for a bit and grab something to eat - I can't feel it, but I know once I log off I'm gonna be hungrier than all hell."

"Yeah." Dennis said, as he pulled up his menu, "I've got some… wait, what?"

Jordan looked at Dennis. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"Uhh, Jordan… how do I log out?" He asked.

"The button at the bottom," He said, as he looked over Dennis's shoulder, "Right…" however he blinked as well, as he noticed the log out feature was blanked out. "The hell…?"

"Does… it work on yours?" Dennis asked, before Jordan quickly pulled out his own menu. However he had just as much luck, as the log out button was missing.

"The hell is this…?" Jordan muttered, "Where's the *bleep*ing logout-" He paused for a moment as he glanced up. "Oh son of a *bleep* they added a profanity filter! Really?!"

"Is that _seriously_ what you're worried about right now?" Dennis asked, as Jordan sighed.

"I hate things like that…" he muttered, before he looked back at his menu. "It could just be a glitch… I mean hell, we _are_ talking about well nearly 1,000,000 people logging into this game on day one, I'm amazed the servers didn't crash from the sheer volume of people… well if the GM's don't auto-log us out, our families could pull our NervGear from off our heads, and we'll be fine."

Before Dennis could say anything, there was a loud 'Gonging' sound in the distance, as if it was from a brass bell causing them to glance up in surprise. As the clouds began to go passing by much faster, and the sun began to grow brighter as well. "What the hell is-" Jordan began, before he and Dennis were both enveloped in a pair of flashing blue lights.

* * *

 **Starting City, Plaza**

* * *

"-on?" Ryu finished as he appeared with every other player in the central plaza of [Starting City]. "Wait, what?"

"Eh? What?" Beside Ryu, Sayaka was trying to rub the daze out of her eyes from the flash of light.

"Where… were we teleported?" Ryu asked as he looked around the milling crowd who looked just as confused as he did. "What's going on here?"

"Oi! Up there!" Someone shouted, as the crowd looked up where a small red blinking light could be seen, which read "Warning: System Announcement!" on it. However moments later, the sign duplicated to the point where it covered the entire surrounding sky, giving the skies a dark red hue. Moments later though, what looked like blood began to ooze from out of the sky, gathering together in the sky.

"...and now the sky is bleeding, why is the sky bleeding?"

"Maybe they're trying to really work for that M-Rating?"

The sky blood began to take up a shape in the sky, before it finally too up the shape of a massive dark figure in red and gold robes with a cloak covering his face. "Hey! Its a Game Master!" Someone shouted, "Hey dude! Something's wrong with our Log out features!"

" _ **Attention Players,**_ " The Game Master said, as it spread its arms out. " _ **Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihito, as of this moment, I am the sole person who controls this world.**_ "

"Ego much?" Ryu asked with narrowing eyes.

"Wh-what's going on?" Sayaka subconsciously hid behind Ryu, feeling something very, very wrong with the situation.

" _ **I am fairly sure you have noticed, that the logout button has been removed from your menus,**_ " He continued, as a much larger version of the game menu appeared in front of him and everyone else. " _ **But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat: This is not a defect in the game, It is a feature of Sword Art Online.**_ "

"Oh god no," Ryu breathed out, his eyes widening in a mixture of shock and fear. "Please, no."

"Don't be the Matrix, don't be the Matrix…" Someone within the crowd repeatedly said.

" _ **You cannot log out of SAO yourselves,**_ " Kayaba continued, " _ **And no one on the outside can or will shut down your Nerve-Gear. As should this be attempted, the transmitter inside your Nerve Gear will emit a powerful Microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life.**_ "

"W-What?" Sayaka said in shock, her eyes widening.

"Why!?" Ryu roared out. "Why do this!?"

" _ **Unfortunately, several player's friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the Nerve-Gear.**_ " Kayaba said, ignoring Ryu and the other's shouts of protest as tabs appeared around him revealing newsreels. " _ **As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, both from Aincrad and the Real World.**_ _**As you can see, News organizations from across the world are reporting this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume the danger of a Nerve Gear being removed is now Minimal. I hope you will relax, and attempt to clear the game."**_

Ryu clenched his fists tightly as he glared up at Kayaba angrily. "You *bleep*ing son of a *bleep*"

"Dude, what the actual *Bleep*!" Another person shouted. "This doesn't make me relax - its doing the exact opposite!"

" _ **But I want you to remember this clearly,**_ " Kayaba continued. " _ **There is no longer a way to revive someone within the game. If your HP Drops to Zero, your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously... the Nerve-Gear will destroy your brain.**_ "

"No… nononono…" Sayaka muttered, as she grasped the hem of Ryu's shirt for reassurance. "This… this can't be happening…"

Ryu reached out and steadied Sayaka as she shook in fear, looking at her with concerned eyes. "You will survive," he whispered to her. "If nothing else, I promise you that."

"B-But… it's almost impossible to go through a normal MMO on your first try without dying once…" Sayaka whimpered.

" _ **There is only one means of escape,**_ " he continued. " _ **To Complete the game. You are all currently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, floor 1.**_ " as he spoke, a large blue 3-D map appeared before them all. " _ **If you make your way through the Dungeons, and the Floor bosses, you will advance a floor for each boss. Defeat all of the bosses, along with the final boss on Floor 100, and you will defeat the game!**_ "

"Sayaka, look at me," Ryu said as he forced the girl to look into his eyes. "I _will_ keep you alive, okay? Trust me."

"But what reason would you have to keep me around, Ryu-san!? I-I'll just be dead weight - I… I don't know if I can fight knowing the risk of dying is real!" Sayaka shouted, shaking uncontrollably as her tears began flowing.

Ryu wrapped Sayaka in his arms, hugging her tightly. "You're my friend, that's why," he whispered to her. "No matter what happens, you are my friend, and I will always protect my friends."

"We've only just met!" Sayaka protested.

"Doesn't matter," Ryu countered. "I can always tell who'll be a good friend, and besides, it's not in me to ignore a crying lady."

Sayaka was silent for several moments, only her sobbing audible through Ryu's armour. "R-Really…?"

"Really," Ryu confirmed. "I promise."

" _ **Finally,**_ " Kayaba said, as he pressed one more button on his menu. " _ **I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves.**_ "

Everyone, including Ryu and Sayaka took a moment to look through their respective inventories, under the title 'Mirror'. They activated the item, as a small handheld mirror appeared in their hands.

"A Mirror?"

"That's it?"

"What the *Bleep* is this - GAH Profanity filter *bleep* you!"

Ryu rose an eyebrow as he and Sayaka looked at the mirror… and he heard Sayaka scream as she was enveloped in a burst of blue light. "Saya-woa!" He shouted as he too was enveloped, and soon following all of the players in the courtyard were surrounded by the light.

Ryu blinked as the spots left his eyes before looking himself over, his eyes widening as he saw his own real life body. "What in the world?"

"What just happened…?" the girl in his arms groaned, rubbing her eyes again.

"I think… I think Kayaba removed our Avatars," Ryu answered as he looked around.

"Wait, Ryu-san? That's you?" Sayaka gaped.

Ryu gave her a weak grin. "Beer gut and all," he confirmed. "Huh, you don't look much different than your Avatar."

"W-Well, there were some things I tweaked a little…" she confessed, her eyes drooping down to her chest… which was currently mashed into Ryu's stomach. Her cheeks involuntarily turned red.

"Ah," Ryu responded with a light chuckle. "Don't like the stares?"

Sayaka could only nod in response.

" _ **Right now, you are probably asking yourselves 'Why'?**_ " The man continued. " _ **Why would Kayaba Akihito, developer of Sword Art Online and Nerve-Gear, do all of this? My Goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason: To create this world, and intervene in it. And now... it is complete.**_ "

"This is insane," he whispered. "Sayaka, as soon as we can leave, stay close, alright?"

"R-Right…" she nodded again, backing off from Ryu slightly and wiping her tears away.

Ryu looked up at Kayaba Akihito with anger. "If I get a chance, I am going to kick that guy's ass."

" _ **This ends the Tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online,**_ " Kayaba said, and as if mocking them all, he added " _ **Good luck, Players.**_ " Moments after he said that, the game master appeared to dissolve into thin air, before the warning signs all disappeared, returning to the sunsetting skies above them.

"Come on!" Ryu shouted as he gripped her hand and started moving. "Don't let go!"

"A-Ah!" Sayaka squeaked as she was practically dragged off her feet. She took a bit of time to gather herself before she started running behind Ryu. "Where are we going?"

"An inn," Ryu answered. "We need to get off the streets, it's going to be chaos out here!"

"A-A-A-A-An _inn_!?" the girl gasped out loud as her blush returned in full force. "B-B-B-B-But we b-b-barely know e-e-each other a-a-and we're n-n-not involved l-like that!"

"Nothing like that!" Ryu assured as he managed to push them past the still shell shocked crows. "Separate rooms if you want, but I want to get off the streets before they start a riot or something!"

"Alright…" Sayaka let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Here!" he called out as they ran into the inn and quickly purchased two rooms from the innkeeper for the next few days. "Right, I think we'll be fine here for now, we can think about our next move from here."

Sayaka was slumped on a chair in the inn's reception area, panting hard.

"Sorry, did I push you too hard?" Ryu asked in concern as he took a seat next to her.

"I… I'm not a very good… athlete…" she groaned. "A-And I'm still reeling… from the changes to SAO…"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Ryu breathed as he held up his slightly shaking hands. "I put up a good front, but quite honestly, I'm scared shitless too."

"Ryu-san… Do you really think we can get out of this alive?" Sayaka whispered, visibly withdrawing into herself leaving barely any trace behind of the happy-go-lucky, energetic girl Ryu had been talking to earlier.

Ryu frowned in worry before throwing an arm over her shoulder and giving her a hug. "Yes," he affirmed. "We can."

"Even through the full 100 floors when we're not sure what lies ahead?" Sayaka leaned into him for reassurance.

"Yeah, all we gotta do is have faith," Ryu assured, squeezing her shoulders lightly. "It'll be chaotic, and I'm not going to lie, people are going to die, but we'll start coming together."

"I sure hope so…" she whispered, closing her eyes.

"So do I," he admitted in return as he leaned back into her while closing his own eyes.

"By the way…"

"Hm?"

"H-How long are you going to…" Sayaka cast a shy glance down at her chest, with Ryu's arm wrapped around it practically sinking into her abundant bust. The harassment warning window was floating in the air in front of her, even though she was mostly ignoring it.

Ryu blinked before realizing where his hand was resting before practically flying off of her. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!" he cried out apologetically

"It-It's fine… as long as you did it by accident and apologized…" she blushed, still rotating her body away from Ryu anyway and wrapping her arms around her chest, feeling a little violated.

Ryu seemed to generate a cloud of depression around him as he cried anime tears. "I don't mean to, really," he bemoaned.

A tinkling bit of laughter escaped the girl's mouth for a short moment. "You're a good person, Ryu-san…"

"I try to be, oh, and please, call me Tom," the Canadian requested. "My real name, it's Thomas Johnston."

"F-First name so quickly?" Sayaka looked rather taken aback, although she rolled the name out anyway, "T-T-Tom-san…"

Tom chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I'm not much for formalities, even for a Canadian to be honest," he explained. "Besides, if we're going to be doing this no reason to stand on formality."

"Then… my real name's Saya Amagi," Sayaka formally introduced herself with a slight bow. "Just… call me Saya."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Saya," Tom said as he held out his hand to her.

"And you too, Tom-san… I'll be in your care," Sayaka replied, eyeing the hand for a moment before grasping it.

Tom gave it a firm shake before releasing it. "I suppose we should probably get to bed," he said with a small sigh. "Have a good night, Saya."

"Yeah… good night," Sayaka smiled weakly as they headed up to their individual rooms in the inn.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - With Jordan and Dennis**

* * *

"We should be safe here for now…" Jordan said as he and Dennis stood on top of a building, as the rest of the players descended into chaos, with riots in the square and people running for safety wherever they could find it. "For now, as long as we stay in the city limits we can't get killed. Cities like this are safe zones."

"What the hell is going on here…" Dennis muttered shaking his head as he sat down. "We die here we die for real… why would Kayaba do this?"

"I don't know…" Jordan muttered as he stared up at the sky. "This isn't like him from what I know about him… he's not a psychopath… but this…"

"This isn't good." Dennis said, "By the time this riot is over it is going to be every man for himself. What the hell are we going to do!?"

"Calm down Dennis, panicking like the others won't help things," Jordan said. "We need to take a breather and try to form some kind of plan."

Dennis sighed deeply before he started to speak.

"Okay what do we do?" he said. "I can only think right now is that we watch each others backs as we go through this game."

"Dennis, believe me when I say we're gonna need more than the two of us," Jordan said. "I beta'd this game, the floor bosses are all badass, and taking down one with just two guys - let alone going solo - is nearly impossible unless you've leveled up to the point where you're a SAO Demi-god basically, and even then you're not guaranteed to win… and the biggest problem will be _finding_ where the floor bosses are to begin with."

"Damn," Dennis muttered with a sigh. "Well, we are going to have to be persuasive if we want anyone to join us in this fight."

"Maybe…" Jordan said, as he crossed his arms. "The chaos will likely continue for a few hours… eventually people will simmer down, and people will start to restore order, and people will start to reorganize themselves into their own guilds… though I don't doubt that a lot of people will try to go solo… probably the Beta Testers, steal the best monster spawn points for themselves, and start advancing on their own..."

"Didn't you say you use to be in a Guild?" Dennis asked. "Some Ninja guild thing? Can't we join them?"

Jordan shook his head "No… I doubt Fuumaningun will be willing to help," he said, "We had a bit of a falling out before the Closed beta ended… I left the guild, so I doubt they'll want me back. Our best bet will be to make our own guild for now."

"Where do we start looking for members?" Dennis asked, however Jordan sighed.

"That's gonna be difficult," he admitted. "Normally we'd have the time to assemble members… but with all this newfound chaos, people are gonna be running around like chickens with their heads cut off, scared that anything moving will get them killed."

"Hmm." Dennis hummed. "Well best thing we can only do now is to wait for them to calm down. Though if we do form a guild we will need to get ourselves a blacksmith for our equipment and an alchemist for health potions because there is no doubt in my mind that those things will be in high demand," He stared at the chaos below. As the riot went on he saw that the outside of an inn entrance there was an opening.

"Okay, Jordan here is our chance, see that opening in front of the inn?" Dennis asked as Jordan nodded. "On my count we make a break for it and I will use my shield to shovel off anyone in the way." Dennis pulled out his shield and holded it with both hands.

"Got it, I am right behind you!" Jordan said as he positioned himself.

The two then went downstair of the building and focused on the window as the riot went on.

"Alright… Now!" Dennis said as he charged down toward the crowd pushing off any poor sob that was on his way until they reached the inn's door. "Out of the way, move it people! Move! Move! Move! Coming through!" Dennis shouted, before they reached the door itself, as they opened and slammed it shut.

"Good thinking, Dennis," Jordan said as he paid the Innkeeper for a room. "Got plenty of col from the Beta to keep us afloat for a while."

"It's best we 'sleep' this off until things calm down," Dennis said as they went upstairs to their room.

"Yeah, things should calm down in a few days…" Jordan said sighing as he walked to follow Dennis to the room. "Geez I hope Ryu's alright…"

"Bah, that crazy Canadian knows what he's doing," Dennis said, "You told me this wasn't his first VRMMO."

"Yeah, but this is the first time he's in a game where he dies here, he dies IRL." Jordan said, as they entered their room before he sighed. "I can't help but worry about him… "

"Hopefully we'll meet up with him… strength in numbers, right?" Dennis asked, as Jordan nodded.

"Yeah…" he said before he headed for one of the beds. "Well… we should rest up while we can. We're gonna need it in the morning."

' _Coño how did it end up like this'_ Dennis thought as he took of his chainmail with a simple click from the menu and laid in the virtual bed. He shrugged off the idiotic thought of questioning why they needed sleep in a virtual world since that was the least of their problems.

"Well night Jordan. See you in the virtual morning" Dennis said as he went to sleep.

Jordan didn't immediately go to sleep, as he just sat in bed staring up at the ceiling. ' _Kayaba… why?_ ' he thought, ' _I used to idolize you… you were my hero… why are you doing this? What do you get out of all this?_ '

Jordan activated his menu for another moment, as he looked at where the log out function used to be at. ' _Die here, die for real..._ ' he thought. ' _No second chances, respawns or restarts… that's it, huh?_ '

He turned the menu off, as he continued to stare up at the ceiling. "What's your aim in all this, Akihiko?" He asked no one. "I'm gonna find out why you're doing this… even if it's the last thing I do… I can never say no to a good mystery." Jordan chuckled a bit to himself, before he finally closed his eyes, and slept.

* * *

 **The Next Morning - Aincrad 1st Floor**

* * *

"Uwaaah… it's really bad…" a somewhat calmer Sayaka whispered as she looked out the window of the inn.

The streets were filled with people, a lot of which didn't seem to know what to do at all and were just lying around. An air of desolation, fear and depression hung about the town despite its population of just about every player logged into the game. It was depressing enough to look at, so Sayaka decided to simply look away and sigh.

"It's to be expected, I guess," Tom muttered as he shook his head. "Unfortunately, if we want to learn anything, we have to go out there."

"I guess so…" Sayaka slumped into a seat beside Tom. "It's just… too depressing to look at. And it's too easy to… feel like joining them…"

"Hey," Tom said he nudged her slightly. "It'll be alright, we got each other's backs, right?"

"Y-Yeah, Tom-san…" Sayaka slumped onto the table, resting her head on her hands.

"Worried about your real life body?" Tom asked in concern.

She nodded, still looking rather downcast. "I mean… the fact that I'm still alive here means my mum hasn't pulled off the Nerve Gear yet at least… but I… miss her."

"Your mom?" Tom asked for clarification.

Sayaka nodded again, her eyes tearing up. "She… she must be worried sick about me now… I can practically imagine what s-s-she's doing now… lying beside my bed, h-h-holding my hand… wishing it was all just a-a-a-a n-nightmare…"

Tom hugged her gently - being mindful of her… private areas. "You'll see her again," he whispered. "Y'know, I miss my parents, too, and my niece and nephew."

If anything, Sayaka got more withdrawn - Ryu could feel her tucking her arms closer to her body. "I… I want to see my mum and dad again! I don't want to die here!" she whimpered.

"Hey, hey," Tom whispered as he hugged her tightly. "You will, I promise that you will. Didn't I promise you that?"

The girl in his arms let out a small whimper and wiped away her tears. "Y-You did… I don't know why, but hearing you say that, Tom-san… kind of puts me at ease a little…"

Tom smiled at her. "Good, glad to hear that," he whispered back. "Just know I am by your side."

"Yeah…" she smiled weakly up at Tom.

"Anything you need, let me know," he told her. "Even just a shoulder to cry on."

"Um, a way out of the game?" Sayaka attempted to make a joke.

It… kind of fell flat.

Ryu gave her a weak grin in response. "Out of my reach for the time being, but, I'll do what I can."

Sayaka sagged slightly and aimed another look out the window. "Is it… wrong to wish someone else can do the fighting so the rest of us can go home without dying? It's… selfish, right?" she mused.

"It's alright to be selfish like that," Tom admitted, folding his arms across his chest. "Not wanting to risk your life that is… but…"

"It's still selfish… and if everyone thinks like that…" Sayaka cast another look outside. "Nothing will get done… right?"

"Yeah…" Tom said with a look of his own out the window. "Saya… I want to go out there, and help those people, that's… that's my selfish wish…"

"I don't want to die…" Sayaka whispered, fisting her hands in the fabric of Tom's clothes. "But I don't want to be selfish either… But seeing people in this state… it hurts…"

"So… perhaps… perhaps they need people to look up to, to give them hope for freedom," Tom commented, a determined glint in his eyes.

"I'd feel like I was dying anyway if I just stayed in the city all the time and watched depressed people lying around…" Sayaka nodded. "Tom-san, I want to fight this world with everything I have!"

Tom smiled broadly at her and stood up, holding out a hand to her. "Then let's make a difference, shall we?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I don't want to go down without a fight!" Sayaka pumped her fist in the air.

Tom nodded as he looked out the window. "No sense in standing around, now is there?" he asked in amusement. "Shall we get going?"

"To grind?" Sayaka asked somewhat enthusiastically.

"That," Tom agreed with a nod. "And to gather information, ignorance is the enemy after all."

"I want to level up faster…" Sayaka clenched her fist and patted the wakizashi in its sheath by her side. "I don't want to be a useless burden to you!"

Tom smirked in return. "Then let's start of finding good places to grind," he said before looking down at his hands. "Also want to find out if there's any hand-to-hand combat related skills…"

"Should a sword be better though?" the girl asked as she stood up.

"Eh, I'm actually more comfortable with my hands to be honest," Tom admitted with a tinge of embarrassment in his tone. "I used to be a civilian contractor on a military Reservist base and I actually joined in on some of the training there."

"Then… can you also teach me sometime, Tom-san?" Sayaka asked shyly. "I mean… for when we get back to real life…"

Tom blinked but soon grinned and nodded. "Sure," he agreed. "Hey, maybe we can sue Argus when we get out and I can use the money for a trip to Japan or something."

"Y-Y-You don't need to go that far just to see me…" Sayaka gasped.

Tom shrugged. "Well, honestly, it's just part of the reason, always wanted to take a trip to your home country," he commented with a wistful look. "Just… just never managed to kick myself hard enough to go."

"And besides… my mum's going to be very suspicious when I invite an older guy over…" Sayaka muttered with a blush.

Tom chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Ah, I don't think we need to go that far," he said assuringly. "But, that can wait, for now, we have some grinding to do."

"Please tell me there aren't any slimes in this game," Sayaka shuddered. "I mean… attacking a slime you don't have to physically touch is one thing, but when you can touch it… it sounds like it'd be very icky…"

"Yeah, it'd make me want to hole myself up into a shower for a week," Tom agreed with a shudder of his own as they began moving for the door, he paused as he rested his hand on the handle. "Ready. Saya?"

"Yeah, Tom-san!" Sayaka nodded, a look of grim resolve on her face.

Tom turned the handle and pushed the door open as they strode out into the chaotic streets of [Starting City], their objective clear in mind.

Beat the [Death Game].

* * *

 **Meanwhile - With Jordan and Dennis**

* * *

"Alright, it's morning… now what?" Dennis asked as the two got out of their respected beds.

"Now… well, a lot of things." Jordan said, "If we're gonna survive here, we need to start getting good gear, and getting a whole metric *bleep*ton of experience points. Our best bet will be to camp at higher level mob spawn areas… I know a meadow near the floor's northern edge that spawns a few Ruin Kobold Sentinels and Troopers, not exactly high XP but it's a good place to get some for newer players, along with some col."

"Also… it may be worth inspecting the rest of the world," He continued, as he pulled out the SAO Aincrad map for the first floor. "There's virtually no mapping data on the first floor. If we can map out these areas for the other players, we can start sharing the mob spawn points with other players, so they can level up too. And if we're really lucky, we'll find the first floor's Labyrinth."

"The wha?" Dennis asked, blinking.

"In Aincrad, each level has its own boss." Jordan explained, "And each boss is hidden away in the level's Labyrinth. In order to combat the boss, you need to work your way through the mazes and monsters to find the boss, beat him, and advance to the next floor." He then thought for a moment "If I recall correctly, the first floor boss is [Illfang the Kobold Lord], he wasn't that bad of a boss in the Beta, but we have no idea what Kayaba and the Cardinal system has changed yet."

"So… you're suggesting we look for the Labyrinth, and in extension to that, the Boss?" Dennis confirmed, and Jordan nodded.

"Yeah." He said, "No way we're gonna take down floor bosses on our own, we need to work together with other players to beat them one at a time. If the non-beta players can reach a minimum of Level 15 it shouldn't be too hard to take him down. But we first need to map out the Labyrinth, so anyone else won't get lost…"

"But before even that, I need to get you leveled up." He began, "My character's already at Level 25 from being in the Beta, but you've got a LOT of work to do Dennis." He then smirked a bit "I guess you can call me your new mentor now." He pressed a button, as appearing in a blue flash was a simple one-handed curved sword, which he proceeded to holster. "Come now, Grasshopper - we have work to do."

Dennis rolled his eyes. "Grasshopper? Really? " He asked, and Jordan smirked

"Hehe. Come on, with your dedication it shouldn't take long," Jordan said as he headed through the door

"I guess," Dennis said with sigh before following him.

* * *

 **First Floor, Forest Meadow Cave**

* * *

"Watch the lizard on the left flank!" Tom shouted out as he deflected a spear thrust from a [Kobold Sentry] before slashing at its wrists, let out a tsk sound as all it did was leave red lines and do some damage, rather than rendering its hands useless as he intended.

"What's a flank?" Sayaka tilted her head aside, although she reacted to the new monster anyway with her wakizashi glowing orange as she flashed past it, leaving a gash below the Kobold's waist.

"To our sides," Tom explained quickly as he quickly moved around the Kobold he was fighting as slit its throat, scoring a critical hit making its health deplete and shatter into polygons. "To flank someone it to attack from the blind spot."

"Oh," Sayaka blinked and tried to move.

… The Kobold she had struck with her Reaver sword skill turned and swung its club around, sending her flying a short distance while she was stuck on the cooldown from her sword skill.

"Saya!" Tom shouted out as he moved, charging the Kobold with a flurry of strikes, drawing the aggro of the monster. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah…" Sayaka groaned as she climbed to her feet, checking the health bar in the corner of her vision. That one blow had done enough damage to knock it down into the yellow zone… "Ow…"

"Catch!" Tom called out as he tossed her a health potion. "Heal up, I'll keep them busy."

"Uwaaaa!" Sayaka fumbled with her catch, almost dropping the potion before she popped the cork and downed it in one go. "It's… tasteless," she grumbled, tossing the flask aside and hanging back as she waited for the potion's heal over time effect to replenish her health.

As that was happening Tom was ducking and weaving through the strikes of the monsters, his dagger flashing quickly in regular attacks at critical points of their body.

Sayaka took note of how Tom was aiming his slashes and stabs in between pieces of armour as opposed to trying to hit the armour itself. She partially unsheathed her own wakizashi and studied it closely, wondering if she could use it like her partner was using his dagger.

As one of the [Kobold Sentry] overextended one of its thrusts Tom snapped his hand out, grabbing the collar of the Kobold's armor before yanking him close and wrapping his hands around its head and proceeded to rather violently snap its neck, resulting in an instant kill.

Sayaka winced.

"Saya?" Tom called out as he resumed his ducking weaving. "How you doing?"

"I almost feel sorry for the Kobolds… the way you're killing them like that," she commented.

Tom blinked as he looked over to her. "Oh, the neck snapping," he realized as he stabbed a Kobold in general area of the stomach. "Yeah, I did say I trained with Army men, right?"

The girl nodded as she took a deep breath and stood up again. "It's kind of… brutal," she admitted, charging back into combat as her HP bar returned to full, ducking under a Kobold and jamming her wakizashi through the gap in its armour at the armpit.

"Just like that, Saya!" Tom shouted out encouragingly. as he slew another Kobold. "We're just about finished with the mob!"

"Right!" Sayaka shouted, jamming the blade in all the way with both hands and twisting it, causing the Kobold to screech out in pain and shatter into polygons.

Tom quickly engaged the final Kobold as he slashed at it rapidly, depleting its health. "Switch!" he shouted as he leapt back, allowing Saya to get the final blow in.

"What? Eh, what?" Sayaka blinked, completely missing the opportunity as the Kobold turned around to face Tom again.

"Switch means to change engagements, it's used when the enemy if off guard," Tom called out as he moved around the Kobold. "I'll set you up again!" he quickly slashed at the attacking Kobold, striking the spear and leaving the Kobold Vulnerable. "Switch!"

"Right!" Sayaka dashed in with her wakizashi outstretched in a lunging motion with her wakizashi gripped by her right hand. The attack impacted against the Kobold's chestplate, but she drove her left palm into the pommel of her weapon and rammed it through. The creature vanished into polygons soon after.

"Nice job!" Tom praised as a box appeared before them showing the loot drops and experience points gathered. "Just one problem though."

"Ah, was it the failed Switch?" Sayaka rubbed the back of her head nervously.

"No, no, that was my fault for not explaining it to you earlier, bring up your weapon stats," he ordered. "What's the first thing you notice about it."

"Eh?" Saya did as she was told, tapping on her wakizashi with her free hand. The first thing she noticed was that the durability stat for it was flashing red. "Eeep."

"It's durability is low, right?" Tom speculated with a small grin as he adopted a lecturing pose, his left hand planted on his hip as he used his right with his index finger extended to make motions in the air, as if slashing a sword. "It's because you're not using the wakizashi as a wakizashi, its primary role is as a [Slashing Weapon], it's not exactly suited for puncturing enemy armor with stabs," he explained. "While I am flattered you are trying to imitate my fighting style, you'll find it's just not suited for either yourself or your weapon, my dagger is a [Stabbing Weapon], meaning you can't exactly use my style of fighting. Plus, our body builds are completely different, you're slender and thin, while I'm bulky and thick, staying with me so far?"

Sayaka had swirls in her eyes as she tried to process the information.

"Ah, kinda went overboard, didn't I?" Tom asked in embarrassment as he scratched his cheek. "Sorry, I kinda get passionate when teaching…"

"Um… so basically…" Sayaka still looked a little dizzy as she tried to repeat what Tom had said. "I should focus more on slashing than stabbing…?"

Tom nodded. "Pretty much yeah," he agreed. "Tell me, did you notice how I moved when I was fighting the Kobolds?"

"Umm…" Sayaka racked her brain. "You didn't move much?"

"Exactly, the style of fighting I was taught for CQC was that of 'efficiency within a small area', little movement as possible," Tom explained slowly so that she could properly follow, grabbing a stick of the ground and drawing a circle around himself in the dirt. "When I fight, I only moved within a small area like this, to better allow me to grab hold of my opponents, and with my build - stocky - I am able to take a few more hits than someone with your build - thin - can, understand?"

"But won't that be more about stats than anything in SAO?" Sayaka tilted her head sideways in confusion.

"Perhaps, I'm not quite sure to be honest, especially with how this became a [Death Game]," Tom said with a nod. "Real Life skills are very easy to use here, like how I was able to snap necks, any regular MMO player would never think to do something like that, right?"

"Umm… yeah…" Sayaka nodded, turning around to face a fresh [Kobold Sentry] spawn. "I'll give it a try."

"I wouldn't recommend it," Tom advised. "Not a neck snap anyways, they're harder than they look, instead, do a decapitation."

"Um, with that armour?" Sayaka eyed the piece of armour around the Kobold's throat.

"Work around it," Tom said. "Your sword is a short sword, meaning you can do things with it longer swords can't, like sliding into small gaps."

"Right…" Sayaka nodded, narrowing her eyes at a section that seemed like it would be able to move and a gap between it and the next section…

…

"TOO SMALL!"

Tom sighed as he shook his head. "Alright, then, going to tell you another kill point, for the most part, it seems these enemies have the same 'kill points' as humans, there is on you can reach, see that gap where the shoulder meets the neck?"

"Yeah?" Sayaka nodded, staring at said spot.

"That's where a vital spot is, it's a major blood vessel," Tom explained. "Try it."

"Right!" Sayaka prepared her wakizashi and charged forward, dodging a lunge from the Kobold's spear to slash at a gap in between the armour pieces where the spot was. At least it was slightly larger than the one she had been looking at earlier, she decided as the blade cut effortlessly through and dealt a critical hit for extra damage.

"Now, move around behind it!" Tom shouted out. "Then grab the top of his head, pull it back and slide your sword along its throat!"

Following Tom's instructions on instinct, the girl spun around and yanked the Kobold's head back with her free hand. Her wakizashi dragged across the suddenly much larger chink in the armour she had been looking at, tearing a red gash open along its throat. The Kobold let out a surprisingly realistic gurgle before exploding into polygons.

"And that's how you take advantage of those weak points," Tom declared proudly.

"I think I better not use this sword for a while though…" Sayaka sighed, tapping on the wakizashi again and checking its durability.

Tom nodded in agreement. "Let's head back to town for now then," he said looking up to the sky. "Sort through the loot and get our gear repaired."

"I wonder if we can get any armour made from the loot like in Monster Hunter?" Sayaka smiled, sheathing her wakizashi.

"I believe so," Tom mused as he adopted a thinking pose. "I remember hearing that there's a crafting skill… and such."

"I want to try it out for myself!" Sayaka squealed. "I've always wanted to try making beautiful armour…"

"Right, let's head to town and see what we can find out," Tom said with a grin. "Let's get going before the mob spawns again."

"Kobolds are ugly though," the girl decided. "They won't make nice armour."

"Very," Tom agreed with a nod. "Calling them lizards is an insult to lizards everywhere, as for the armor, never know until you try, right?"

"I want to make dragonskin armour!" Sayaka had apparently completely given up on Kobold armour.

"Well, Kobolds are said to be of the [Dragon] Type," Tom offered with a sly grin.

"Too ugly to be dragons," Sayaka surprisingly dismissed it.

"Well, it'll be good practice then," he concluded. "Plus we should be able to sell it as Player Made Gear at a premium."

"Fine, practice," Sayaka deflated.

Tom patted her back soothingly. "We'll slay a dragon together, alright?" he offered.

"And we'll make some super good gear out of it!" Sayaka cheered.

"Yup," Tom grinned as he gave her a thumbs up. "So, you'll take armor crafting? he asked for confirmation. "Then I'll take blacksmithing."

"Dragontooth katanas!" the girl beside him happily grinned.

"Dragonscale armor!" the adult responded.

"Let's make it happen!" Sayaka laughed, raising her hand to hi-five Tom.

Tom returned the gesture as their hands clapped together and they both started moving towards the town. "Might want to switch to a different weapon in case we run into any mobs," he pointed out. "Don't want to break your sword."

"I've still got the [Light Iron Curved Sword] from the default equipment, I'll use that," she brought up her menu and hit the necessary buttons to swap her wakizashi out for the starter sword.

"Sounds good, let's get going!" Tom called as he started moving at a brisk jog.

* * *

 **First Floor, Open Plains**

* * *

Jordan cursed as he leaped over a [Kobold Sentinel] that swung its Mace at him, hitting the ground where he was moments ago. He performed a midair cartwheel before landing on the ground behind the Sentinel. The Kobold hefted up his Mace from out of the ground to swing it at Jordan once more, however he ducked under the swing as the mace barely grazed his head, but he used this chance to catch the Kobold off balance as he charged at the NPC monster, his curved sword in hand as he sliced into the creature's legs. "Dennis! Help! Now!" He shouted.

"On it! Rarghhh!" Dennis charged at the sentinel with shield up and hitting its side with a bone breaking shield bash causing the sentinel to be thrown a few feet and before he could get up Dennis stabbed his head causing to creature to shriek in death before bursting into data.

"There ya go," Dennis sighed, as he took the col and EXP from his kill. "Ten col richer, and 230 XP Better."

"Good - one less Kangaroo to deal with." Jordan said, as he holstered his sword, but Dennis blinked.

"Kangaroo? I thought that was a Lizard!" He exclaimed, but Jordan shook his head.

"Nope - Totally Kangaroo's." He said, "I've fought the First level Boss, I know what I'm talking about. Totally a giant freaking Kangaroo."

Dennis pointed at one of the Kobold's standing a fair distance away, outside of its detection range. "Dude, that totally looks like a Lizard!" He said.

"Its a Kangaroo."

"Lizard!"

"Kangaroo!"

"Totally a Lizard!"

"Totally a Kangar-" Jordan paused for a moment as his ears twitched. "Wait, you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Dennis asked, "I didn't hear anything."

"My hearing skill is higher than yours, right… I heard a scream." Jordan explained, as he drew his sword once more. "This way! Come on!"

Dennis cursed as he ran to follow. "Hey! Wait up! I'm wearing a metal suit, not freaking sweatpants!" He shouted as he chased after his friend.

Backed up in a corner were two girls, both with the default gear and equipment standing with their iron swords drawn, and shakily aimed at the surrounding Kobold Soldiers and Sentries, roughly eight of them at the very least. The first woman had long waist-length platinum blonde hair, and dark green eyes, gulping slightly.

"I-I can't believe they just abandoned us like that!" She shouted, as her friend - a woman about the same age with short neck-length purple hair and blue eyes - nodded.

"We can make it out of this… I've still got plenty of health potions." She said, as she used her free hand to activate her inventory. "I'm sending you half of mine right now - we make a break for it when-"

"Rossa! Look out!" The other girl shouted, as the Kobold Warriors made their move, as one armed with an Axe lunged at Rossa. Her eyes widened as she closed her menu, just barely raising her sword in defense in time, the Axe grazed against her shoulder, as her HP bar decreased by one sixth.

"Lux! Sword Skill! Now!" Rossa shouted, as Lux nodded as her own iron sword glowed orange as she charged at the attacking Kobold, shouting out as she used her [Slant] skill as she sliced the face of the Kobold, causing the creature to back off, roaring in pain.

As the wounded backed off two more Kobold came charging to lux as she barely parried one of the Kobold sword but as she did that the other hit her side with a mace, making her fall and stagger in the ground. The two Kobold took their chance and rose their weapons to do the finishing blow.

"Rossa no!" The other girl shouted as she tried to rush towards her friend but was forced to stop in order to block an incoming sword attack from the Kobold to her left. She grunted as she helplessly saw her friend getting ready to be killed.

As the Kobold was going to swing their weapons there was a sudden loud animalistic roar causing everyone to look towards the east where a man wearing chainmail armor went charging at them over the hill. The lizard/Kangaroo's hissed with hatred as they all changed towards the unwanted visitor. As they charged, three of them were hit with javelins in their torso with enough force to penetrate the armor and causing the Kobolds to die and burst into data.

Two kobolds on the right were attempting to flank the newcomer, however they were soon hit with throwing knives on their unprotected heads causing to them to die immediately also - the orign of the knives coming from a second man who leaped into the air, spinning in a rotation as he tossed additional knives at the Kobolds.

The remaining three lizards pressed on with two of them going to the chainmail man while one went to the knife thrower. One lizard swinged its mace at the chainmail man which was blocked by the man's shield and before the lizard could react the man stabbed it's exposed throat causing it to burst upon death. The other lizard went on a slashing ax frenzy at the man with him only blocking constantly with his shield. Upon the last ax swing, Dennis used his strength to not only block it but to push the lizard to ground with a single shield push. Before the lizard could recover, Dennis stabbed its face with one powerful thrust. Dennis sighed a little before he went toward Jordan who was fighting his own lizard.

Jordan ducked and weaved as the Kobold warrior hacked and slashed at him, but none of his attacks manage to connect. "Wow, you guys are out-of-shape," He said tauntingly, tisking. "You REALLY gained weight since the Beta, didn't you?" Jordan said with a smirk causing the warrior to increase the speed and ferocity of its attacks. As it was distracted Dennis stabbed the creature's chest from behind and as the creature shrieked in pain Jordan did the finishing blow by decapitating its head with his curved blade.

"Is that all of them?" Dennis said as he scanned the area.

"Yeah that's all of them," Jordan said. "Come on we better check how those two are doing." He and Dennis walked towards the bewildered woman. As they approached,Rossa had her fighting stance ready with sword still drawn before speaking.

"Don't want to sound ungrateful but what do you guys want?" She said with a serious tone.

"Calm your tits girl, if we wanted to do something bad to you two we wouldn't be having this conversation," Dennis said bluntly. "We just came to check if you girls were alright and needed help."

Jordan to stare at him with shock of the lack of subtlety his bearded friend showed. "Not much for manners are you?" he asked, as as Dennis shrugged.

Rossa glanced at Lux, who shrugged as she lowered her sword. Rossa sighed, as she followed suit. "Alright… well, thank you both for the help," she said. "If you hadn't showed up when you did…"

"Eh, if it wasn't for my friend's good listening, we probably wouldn't be here," Dennis said as he pointed to Jordan with the side of his hand.

"My Hearing Skill was among the first skills I began grinding for when I first started this game," Jordan said nodding. "Name's Jordan Tackett, though some like to call me by my Gamertag 117Jorn, or just Jorn for short." He extended his hand out to shake Rossa's, who somewhat hesitantly shook it, but quickly became used to it.

"Dennis Nieves-Diaz, Gamertag Shadowmaster89, at your service." Dennis introduced, as his hand also shaking Rossa's.

"A pleasure… My name is Shiori Wakana, but you can call me by my own Gamertag, Rossa." She explained, before gesturing to her friend. "My friend behind me is Kashiwaka Hiyori but she likes to be called by Lux." Lux shyly waved her hand with a faint smile while hiding behind Rossa like a scared child next to her mother.

"H-hi," she said weakly before she chuckled a little.

Rossa sighed, shaking her head. "Don't mind her," she said. "She is still a bit shell shocked from yesterday and things today just made things worse." Rossa said before her face scowled. "I swear if I see those bastards again I am going to kill them for leaving us here!"

"Whoa, calm down," Jordan said as he tried to calm the angry violet haired girl. "What the hell happened?"

Rossa took a deep breath before sighing. "Well my so called 'party' left us here to die when things didn't go as planned as we went raiding some dungeon nearby," she began to explain. "A couple of guys died when we got ambushed by these things and everything went to hell fast. After we were able to escape we got separated despite me trying to tell them that staying together and to make things better we somehow got most of the aggro and they ran when we saw them again and asked for help."

"So they went every man for himself, huh?" Jordan observed, nodding. "While I understand them being scared, abandoning you was an idiot maneuver. If any of us are gonna survive this game, we need to work together."

"Umm… e-excuse me," Lux said, raising her hand. "You… you mentioned something about the Beta… were you a… a Beta Tester?"

Jordan sighed, scratching the back of his head before he nodded. "Well, yeah I was," he said, "Like the others, I only got to Floor Ten… this was suppose to be just another game, then Kayaba threw that *Bleep*ing curveball at us… last I heard, the other Betas all either went solo, or banded up with other Beta's… morons, the lot of them. Think they're 'so special' for getting into the Beta, they're better than the other players… you'd think they'd grow some senses with *Bleep* like this going on…"

Both Lux and Rossa blinked at Jordan's rant, though Rossa would have to admit at least he was… vocal about his disapproval of the attitude the other Beta Testers have taken.

"Anywho," Jordan said, "seeing as your last party were a bunch of douchebags, would you care to join us?"

"I know this is sudden and you got screwed over last time," Dennis said. "But if you want we can take you two to town and we can sell our loot from there."

The two girls glanced at one another, as they drew close to each other whispering. "What do you think, Lux?" Rossa whispered.

"Well… these guys already saved us once," Lux said, shrugging. "They look tough… it wouldn't hurt to join for the time being at the very least, till we can get to higher levels ourselves, get more col, and better gear."

Rossa thought about it for a moment, and Lux _did_ have a point. While she wasn't exactly ready to fully throw her lot in with their 'saviors', they had a point that being alone in SAO was a very bad idea now. Rossa sighed, but she nodded before turning around, facing the two. "Alright, I suppose we'll stick with you for now," she stated, before her eyes narrowed. "But don't you dare think of leaving us for dead like our last team."

"Alright awesome!" Jordan said excitedly as he pulled the menu. "Let me give you the invites for the party." With that said, he sent the invites before the girls accepted.

Dennis pulled out the map and enlarged it, revealing a large blue blinking circle

"Alright the teleporter is nearby so we should be in the town in a few minutes," he explained. "But before we leave can you tell me where you found the dungeon? It'd be a good place to avoid before me and Jordan try to tackle it."

"Um, yeah, it's over in the forest," Lux said, pointing towards the nearby forest. "There's some ruins in the middle of the forest so it shouldn't be too hard to find." Rossa proceeded to send the coordinates to them as Lux explained.

"Alright that is good to check out later." Dennis said as he closed the map after making an X in the location.

"There's a heavy concentration of Kobolds here… those ruins might be a good place to start looking fro the floor boss once we get leveled up further." Jordan said, as he began to walk. "Come on, let's get to that teleporter and get out of here - got a lot of loot today, time we cashed in!"

Dennis nodded as he was soon to follow - as were Lux and Rossa as the four players proceeded towards the teleport sight.

* * *

 **Later - Starting City**

* * *

"Alright… selling the furs and extra weapons we don't need..." Jordan said as he dealed with the store vendor. "And that shall give us… 2,000? Eh, its a start." He hit the enter key as the exes of supplies were sold to the Vendor. "Alright, now that'll be 600 for both you and Lux, while 400 for me and Dennis."

"Eh?" Rossa asked, as Jordan made the transaction as they recieved notices that they were being given 600 col each. "Your giving us more?"

"Consider it compensation for your last teammates being *bleep*holes." He said with a smile.

"Umm thanks." Rossa said blinking "I don't know what to say... Oh I know!" She pulled out her inventory and tried to make a trade for Dennis and Jordan. "I have an excess of health potions. They are easy to make and the ingredients are inexpensive for me so here have it."

Both Jordan and Dennis blinked at that. "Wait, you made these?" The former asked, and at her not he smiled. "Perfect! We were hoping to find someone with some Alchemy skills for health and buff potions!

Dennis nodded. "Yeah, this is awesome Rossa," he said, as the young woman blushed a bit at the praise. "This will definitely help us later. Well with the cash I now have I am going to get that Estoc over there." he pointed at the fifty inch sword and approached it.

"That sword looks kinda heavy," Lux said as Dennis wielded the sword and tried some practice thrusting.

"Quite the opposite. The heaviest the swords can be is six pounds since it was design to be quick as possible while penetrating heavy or plated armor" Dennis said as he did another succession of quick thrusts before sheathing his new sword. The hilt was an amethyst color.

"Nice, but still saving my money for now." Jordan said, "My gear is set for now, but I need to save up till I can afford the gear I REALLY want... They better of added bows and arrows in the higher levels or I swear..."

Dennis blinked "That reminds me, I need to restock those javelins and add some more." He said, as he spoke with the vendor to buy more javelins. "Well Jordan if the bow is here it is best to get an English longbow with steel arrows. I read that the real life version can penetrate armor like a spoon through jelly. After all you can't rely on your falchion and knives forever."

"This isn't a Falchion, Dennis its a Chinese Dao sword." Jordan retorted, "And these will work till we get to higher levels, and purchase their improved versions up there. I've got my eyes set on some nice equipment when we get higher up."

"Huh, you're right. Falchions are more fatter and machete more looking blade with a wider hilt." Dennis said as looked at the sword. "Anyway the sword I want to get is the zweihander. Even back then the germans made some awesome weapons."

"Meh, never was a fan of long straight swords, I prefer curved ones." Jaden said, as he spun his Dao sword in his hand. "More cutting power for slices. I just keep a dagger around for stabbing attacks." He then glanced at Rossa and Lux "So what do you two think? What are your favorite weapons?"

"Umm, w-well, there are so many options..." Lux said, "I… I just stick with something simple..."

"Truth be told, I always wanted something like a Claymore… " Rossa said as she chuckled a bit sheepishly. "I'm… a big fan of the Claymore anime, so… I was trying to make my avatar based off of the Claymore's from the series..."

"Ah, badass demon-slaying women of the fantasy era." Dennis said nodding, causing the two to look at him in surprise. "Not surprising someone would want to try and emulate them somehow."

"I'm pretty sure Claymore's are available in the game… not sure if any are on level one though." Jordan said as he put his sword away. "We'll just have to go hunting for it seems. For now though, I suggest we do some more grinding once we've sold all we can - get more alchemy ingredients for Rossa, and more XP and Col for the rest of us."

"Well that's a good idea. Selling Rossas potions at the auction house should earn us a good profit and we can use it for maintenance and getting gear the npcs sell." Dennis said as he looked over the weapons some more.

"Might be a good idea to use a spear and shield until you build enough strength and vitality before trying the claymore. At your current state you wouldn't be able to last much if you got a couple of hits." Jordan said

"Hmm that might be a good idea for now. Anyway how about we go to the inn? I'll be paying for it after all it is the least thing we can do after helping us out." Rossa said before Dennis spoke.

"We already got the inn but we can extend the days some more. Anyway are we done here?"

"Just need to get the spear and shield. After that we can go to the inn." Rossa said as she browse the items.

 _A few minutes later_

"Done?" Dennis asked

"Done" Rossa said as Lux followed.

"Lets go then"Jordan said as the four went towards their inn

* * *

 **Starting City**

* * *

"So, where do we learn the goddamn crafting skills," Tom asked as the pair walked through the crowded streets. "None of the vendors are saying anything about it."

"Dragonscale armour…" Sayaka was looking a little crestfallen.

Tom patted her back comfortingly. "Hang in there, we'll get it," he assured her. "After all, we are the heroes right? What's a hero without gear made from the body of a dragon?"

"Umu!" his partner nodded cheerfully. "Say, Tom-san, what do you think of the sexy armour versus functional armour argument?"

Tom coughed slightly at the unexpected question as he stared at her in a flabbergasted manner. "Umm… well, as a warm blooded male, I have to say the _look_ of Sexy Armor… is well, just that," he admitted. "But I do find it hard to believe that armor of legend is a string bikini and thong."

"I thought so, but in some RPGs the armour ends up being skimpier the better it is…" Sayaka blushed. "I… hope it isn't the case in SAO - luckily Kayaba Akihiko _seems_ to be a supporter of the functional armour side of the argument… although I'm not so sure about it when it comes to lighter armour. I want something easy to move around in…"

Tom hummed in thought. "Well, I'm sure we could think of _something_ to use," he scratched his chin as he looked up. "But… only if we find the Crafting Trainers."

"Mm… looking for information are we?" a youngish feminine voice called out from directly behind them.

Tom and Sayaka spun around and came face to face with a short young girl with blonde hair, clad in a cape that hid most of her body. What really stood out about her though, were the red whisker marks on her cheek. Sayaka let out a small squeak and ducked behind Tom on instinct.

"Umm… I guess… miss?" Tom trailed off looking over the girl.

"I'm called Argo, I'm an Information Broker, so, if you need information…" the whiskered girl declared with a grin. "As for Crafting Trainers, that info will cost you 350 Col."

"Argo-san?" Sayaka came out from behind Tom. "You really do have information on the Crafting Trainers?"

"Of course!" Argo cried out proudly. "I may be called [Argo the Rat], but I never sell bad info!"

"The Rat, huh?" Tom replied blandly.

"Why a rat?" Sayaka tilted her head sideways.

Argo's grin became rather… conniving in response. "1000 col for that information," she announced.

Sayaka was taken aback for a moment. "S-So straightforward…"

The whiskered girl let out a giggle in response. "So, does my offer of information for col interest you?" she questioned.

Tom looked over to Saya who was biting her own lip. "We do have quite a bit saved up at the moment from farming those mobs," he pointed out.

"And we do need that info…" she nodded grudgingly.

"Alight, we'll pay for info on the trainers," Tom announced with a sigh as he brought up the trade window and put in the required amount of col.

"It's a win-win situation after all!" Argo grinned, accepting the trade.

"Right," Tom said with a sigh. "So, where can we find the Trainers?"

"Well, first you need to do an associated quest," the broker explained with a sly grin. "But, I won't charge you for that info, it's called 《Armor for the Armorer》 and it's given to you by the female barkeeper at [Beginner's Bar], once you complete it, you'll have access to the crafting trainers."

"No wonder we couldn't learn the skill from the vendors…" Sayaka gaped.

Argo nodded in agreement. "Took the Beta Tester's a while to figure out as well," she informed. "Hey, since I like you, how about I lead you right to the bar and help you with the quest, on the house of course."

"Eh? You like us all of a sudden?" Sayaka blinked in confusion.

"Yup!" Argo declared. "Oh, what are your names by the way?"

"I'm Sayaka!" Sayaka quickly responded.

"T-... er… Ryu," Tom informed, cutting himself off from saying his real name. "Nice to meet you, Argo."

"So… Sacchan and Teryuu?" Argo chuckled. "Nice to meet you!"

Sayaka stifled a giggle.

"We're never going to convince you to call us something else, are we?" Tom asked blandly.

"You DID introduce yourself as T-er-ryu, didn't you?" Argo snickered.

Tom sent her a look that had his eye twitching. "I don't feel like giving my real name to an information broker," he told her. "Want it, it'll be one million col."

"Fine, fine, use my marketing strategy against me," Argo didn't seem that disappointed. "Besides, _Tom_ -san, it's actually considered rude to refer to strangers by their real names among the SAO Beta Testers."

Tom narrowed his eyes. "Oh?" he asked in an eerily calm voice. "Well then, you should make sure no one hears it from you then."

"1 million col," Argo grinned. "You want me to reveal someone's real name, it'll be 1 million col."

Tom nodded. "Alight then, so, which way to the bar, Argo?" he asked.

"Right this way," Argo continued on down the street. "By the way, if you guys ever need any more information in the future, you know who to look for."

Tom nodded as he manipulated his menu. "Mind if I send you a friend request?" he asked. "To get ahold of you if needed."

"Of course!" Argo exclaimed, quickly accepting the request and smiling as [DragonKnightRyu] showed up on her friend list. "I'll sell you info on dragons early if you like, at an early bird's discount of just 50 col!"

"How did you?" Tom asked in confusion. "How in the hell did you know that?"

"Hehe… 150 col," Argo grinned smugly.

Tom narrowed his eyes. "You heard Sayaka talk about Dragonscale armor, didn't you?"

"50 col for the whole lot on Dragon-based equipment, and no, your character name's [DragonKnightRyu]," Argo chuckled.

Tom sighed as he shook his head as he opened his menu and started a trade with her. "Damn money grubbers."

"Hey, I gotta make a living, don't I?" Argo laughed. "There are some early dragon-based mobs on the 10th floor that you'll be able to hunt for their scales and such. They're more akin to snakes at that stage, but some of the stronger ones _are_ the first dragons you encounter in the game."

Tom nodded. "So we got some time to start grinding our crafting gear then," he murmured. "Sorry Sayaka."

"This is just a freebie, you're better off levelling your crafting skills on Kobold armour at this point. The mats are easy to find and you can make a lot of it in a short amount of time," Argo added.

"Kobolds are ugly," Sayaka made a face.

"But it'll be a good intermediary for now," Tom pointed out. "Plus, starting gear sucks."

"It does," Sayaka sighed. "Alright… Argo-san, what's the best armour this floor can offer?"

"Look for Ruin Kobold Troopers when you come across the 1st Floor's Labyrinth," Argo said without missing a beat. "They drop mats you can use to craft the better starting armour."

"Well, I guess we're going to the Labyrinth after this," Tom said with a small nod. "After we do some grinding for our crafting of course."

"Umu! But the hunting grounds around here are starting to get… stuffy…" Sayaka sighed.

"The Labyrinth is still fairly empty, mostly due to the high level," Argo informed. "So it's pretty ripe for picking."

"But aren't the monsters there too powerful for us for now?" Sayaka frowned.

Tom hummed in thought before looking at Argo with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm, at your levels… I think you'll be fine so long as you stick near the entrance," Argo explained. "Not as many enemies and they're at a lower level."

"I feel like taking a break from grinding for a moment though…" Sayaka sighed, massaging her head. "All that concentration to activate Sword Skills is really getting to me…"

"We can go later," Tom assured as he waved a hand. "Why don't we just spend the rest of the day concentrating on our crafting skills and relaxing."

"I want a bath," Sayaka declared immediately.

Tom and Argo both sweatdropped in response. "Umm… our inn doesn't have a bath, most of them don't seem to," he informed slowly.

"What kind of inn doesn't have a bath!?" Sayaka squawked in indignation. "What kind of backwards world did Kayaba Akihiko create!?"

"Aparently this one," Tom sighed as he looked over to Argo with a raised eyebrow. "Know any inns with actual baths?"

Argo shook her head in a negative. "Not really, well… not on this floor anyways," she answered. "But… I may know someone who does, let me send some messages and see if he does know."

"I wanna go to a hot spring too sometime!" Sayaka had apparently levelled up from wanting a bath to wanting a hot spring.

"Definately not on the First Floor," Argo deadpanned. "Although I think the last floor the Beta Testers got to had one… just a rumour though."

"Hot spring, hot spring!" Sayaka chanted dreamily.

Tom sighed. "Y'know, a nice soak actually does sound good," he admitted with a sigh. "And a nap."

"I know, right?" his companion bounced excitedly. "I feel so icky after fighting those Kobolds…"

"Just be glad there weren't any slimes," Tom returned with a small shudder. "I would _not_ want to try to punch those things."

"Just please, _please_ don't let there be any tentacle monsters or anything of the sort," Sayaka added with a shudder.

"Ew," the whiskered girl said, shuddering herself. "None were seen in the Beta, but with Kayaba changing things…"

"How high did the Beta Testers get anyway? I'm really curious…" Sayaka asked.

"Floor Ten," Argo responded as she worked through her menu. "And that was just before the Beta ended."

"So we only have advance knowledge of what's going on until the 10th floor…" Sayaka sighed, wondering what they'd do about the higher floors above. "It's not very comforting."

"And that's assuming Kayaba and the Cardinal System don't change anything in the meantime," Tom commented with a small frown.

"Well, there's really nothing we can do until we get there," Argo shrugged as she turned to face a nearby bar. "We're here."

"Alright, so what exactly kind of quest is this?" Tom asked curiously.

"A pretty simple fetch quest," Argo explained. "Although the item required is randomized."

"Then let's just get this quest done fast!" Sayaka smiled.

"Right, let's go," Tom said as he opened the door and stepped in.

* * *

 **END CHAPTER**


	2. First Floor Pt 2: Illfang

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Sword Art Online

* * *

 **One Month Later, Starting City**

* * *

Tom looked around the milling crowd with a critical eye as he and Sayaka sat on the stone steps of the gathering area. He was no longer wearing the starting gear, but now clad in a sleeveless brown leather tunic with a pair of leather gloves with metal embedded into the back of the gloves, although he kept the pants and boots from the starting gear - apparently the game has a chafing effect, who knew. "Decent crowd," he murmured to Sayaka. "Let's hope it's enough."

"I sure hope so…" Sayaka whispered. Similarly to Tom, she had ditched her starting gear and traded up for a set of armour she had made herself out of materials collected from the Nepent family of monsters - in a stroke of luck they had managed to come across the miniboss, a Big Nepent one day and taken it down. Now she was clad in a set of simple white cloth armour consisting of a blouse and a skirt, made of plant-like fibre, with a leather breastplate covering her chest and a sheath on her side for the wakizashi she had been given.

"Are you alright?" Tom asked in concern. "You don't have to be here."

"I have to!" Sayaka declared, pumping her fist. "I don't want to see the depression suck everyone in without a fight!"

Her partner gave her a concerned look before nodded slowly. "Alright then," he agreed before looking around the crowd. "Looks like Kirito and Asuna showed up."

Sayaka let out a hesitant laugh at the sight of the black-clad swordsman sitting beside the girl, whose appearance was completely obscured by the hood she wore. "She's still wearing that…?"

Tom snickered at the sight. "Honestly, it's getting to be hilarious how much she's trying to hide her appearance," he commented. "Although, given how the male half of your countrymen react to those who have the looks of a princess, is that really a surprise?"

"Ara, so you're saying you don't react like that to someone who looks like a princess?" Sayaka chuckled, fluttering her eyelashes at Tom.

Tom snorted in response. "I'm a Canadian, we believe in democracy," he informed smugly. "Which makes it odd we still respect the crown of the British monarchy…"

"What does democracy have to do with reactions to beautiful people?" Sayaka cocked her head to one side in confusion.

"Eh, pretty much it means I could care less about what a person looks like," he explained. "Unfortunately democracy has become a popularity contest and people are more worried about the image than the words, so I learned to look past the image."

"Eh?" Tom could practically see the question marks floating over Sayaka's head.

"Pretty much I look past what a person looks like and judge them on their character," he clarified. "So for example… yourself."

"Ara?" Sayaka grinned smugly.

"Well, outside of your… *ahem* womanly curves, most would probably describe you as adorable," he commented, drawing a blush from the girl. "And they'd probably expect a matching personality, not expecting your more… domineering aspects when they come out."

Sayaka looked a little disgruntled at the latter part. "I'm domineering?" she asked.

Tom gave her a dry look. "Remember that cream Kirito shared with us?" he countered. "You browbeat him into giving you the rest of it."

"But he was teasing me with it!" Sayaka whined. "Putting it on his bread and enjoying it in front of me…"

Tom sniggered a bit. "Well, the look you were sending him was… kinda adorable."

"I did pay him back," Sayaka harrumphed, folding her arms with a pout. "Bought him a few health pots."

Tom gave her another dry look. "Only after Asuna browbeat _you_ into it," he pointed out. "Although, you did fold over pretty quickly to her 'older sister' demeanor."

"Asuna-nee is actually kind of scary sometimes," Sayaka admitted, sagging slightly. "But at least Kirito-san did a good job pulling her out of her funk… like you did with me."

Tom smiled as he as he placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair slightly. "Nah, I owe you," he told her. "You gave me a reason to remain strong in all this chaos."

"Actually… all I'm doing is putting on a strong front, Tom-san," Sayaka sighed. "I'm… scared… but I can't let it show - I don't want to let it show. Or else I feel like… everything I've built up until now will end up being wasted."

Tom sighed as he pulled her into a one handed hug, being sure to him his hand away from her chest. "Don't worry, fear is as natural as breathing," he assured her. "I'm about ready to *bleep* in my pants right now."

"I know, but… I can't shake the feeling that I'll fail somehow, one way or another during the boss fight itself…" Sayaka whispered, closing her eyes and trying to hold in her tears. A solitary one trickled down her cheek. "The thought of it terrifies me… What if I mess up, and someone dies?"

Tom wasn't quite certain what to say as he held the girl. "Then… I guess you do the only thing you can," he answered finally. "You keep moving, remembering those who died, but… keep stepping forward, to attain the reason we all are here right now."

"I… can try, but for now I don't want to think about it…" Sayaka sighed, leaning into Tom subconsciously. "All I can do is do what my mum told me - keep smiling in a bad situation and it'll eventually get better…"

"Yup," Tom agreed with a small sigh. "Pretty much all we _can_ do."

Looking around, there was a rather clear separation between players of different nations, as they sat around talking in their own cliques. Although everything came across as English to Tom and Japanese for Sayaka, the slight xenophobia was still present.

"The segregation is going to make this tough," Tom muttered quietly as he looked around. "If people keep up this division…"

"Japanese people in general have a hard time bringing themselves to trust outsiders, Tom-san," Sayaka said gravely. "It's probably going to continue for a while…"

Sayaka was about to say something, however at that moment a young man with blue hair and eyes wearing steel plate metal armor stepped onto the stage, and called them all to order by clapping his hands. "Okay, let's get started people!" he said. "Thank you for coming today, My name is Diabel." He smiled a bit as he bumped his chest. "I like to consider my 'Job' as a Knight!"

This brought out a few laughs from the others gathered. "There's no Job System in the game!" Someone shouted out, and Diabel laughed a bit himself before he brought them all back to order.

"Okay, with that aside, let's get to the reason this meeting was called." Then his face went serious. "Just recently, a team discovered the room where the Floor 1 boss is located," he said, and a collection of gasps and murmurs came forth from the crowd. "By defeating the 1st floor boss and reaching the next floor we can tell everyone in the starting city that this death game _can_ be beaten! It is our responsibility to do so! Don't you all agree, everyone?"

The crowds all began to look at one another, before they began nodding and slowly they began to clap their hands and cheer out in acknowledgement. "Alright, for the information gathered, I turn this over to the party leader who first located the Boss, Jorn!" Diabel said, as he stepped to the side.

Tom blinked as he heard the name ' _Jorn? Couldn't be..._ ' he thought, before another figure appeared on the stage. He was wearing a black-dark green hooded cloth armor with a black bandana around his lower face covering his mouth and nose, and also had steel plate chest guard and spaulders, and reddish-brown leather vambraces and greaves. He had multiple throwing knives strapped on his person, and holstered on his left hip was a single Chinese Dao sword. His face was obstructed by the hood, however as he stepped forward he pulled back the hood, and pulled down the face bandanna, revealing his face.

"Many of my friends know me as 117Jorn, or just Jorn for short" He spoke, "I lead the party that discovered the lair of Illfang, the Kobold Lord. He resides within the ruins to the north of the map, along with his Kobold Soldiers, Sentinels and Vanguards ranging between levels 7, 8 and 9. They should not be too difficult for the standard player to defeat, though the real challenge shall be when we face off against Illfang himself."

Jorn then stepped aside, nodding to Diabel. "Your show, Diabel." He said, as Diabel nodded as he stepped forward.

"If we are going to successfully battle through his defenses, and battle Illfang himself, our forces shall be grouped into teams of six." He continued where Jorn left off. "Considering our levels, a standard party won't stand a chance against a Floor level Boss. We'll need to form a raid group consisting of multiple parties to increase both our chances of success and survival." As he spoke, numerous groups were agreeing with what he was saying, as soon parties quickly began to form.

Since Tom and Sayaka were already in a party - actually they had never even disbanded their original party from the beginning - they weren't too worried. "Do you want to invite Kirito and Asuna to our party?" Tom asked quietly.

"Definitely," Sayaka agreed, looking at the somewhat lost duo sitting off to the side. Even as they spoke, Kirito had scooted a little closer to Asuna. "Since we have a lot of free space anyway…"

Tom chuckled as he opened his menu and sent the pair an invite, watching as they started from the sudden window pop up, waving as they looked over to him.

"When is she going to take off that stupid-looking hood?" Sayaka groaned.

"If she can help it? Probably never," Tom chuckled as the pair accepted the party invitation and began walking over. "Hey, Kirito, Asuna, how's the married life treating you?"

"W-What!? There's nothing of the sort going on between us!" the not-married male swordsman hurriedly denied.

"That's right, we've pretty much only just met a short while ago!" Asuna threw in.

"There's supposed to be a marriage system in the game though, right?" Sayaka said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I heard it gets unlocked somewhere in the Third Floor," Kirito answered evasively. "Why, thinking of tying the knot with Ryu?"

Sayaka snuck a glance at Tom. "As if," she waved a hand in the air flippantly, though there was a hint of a blush on her cheeks as she very quickly changed the subject. "You two seem to have a bit of a good vibe going on…"

Kirito chuckled weakly as Asuna glared at him. "You really think so, huh?" he asked. "Well, I suppose it's good _someone_ does."

"Better than what me and this _outsider_ have going on at least," Sayaka chuckled, winking at Tom as she said the word 'outsider' to let him know she wasn't being serious.

"Ow, that hurts," he said sarcastically, pointing to his heart. "That hurts me right here."

"Eheheh," Sayaka giggled as the sarcasm just completely slid off her. "Anyway, To-... Ryu-san has been very nice to me, but he seems to treat all other girls like that too… even Asuna-nee. I hear Westerners have this tendency to regularly change girlfriends…"

"Partial stereotype," Tom answered with a sigh. "We have playboys just like every other culture out there, only _ours_ get publicized."

"Well, until I get certain, absolute, 100% proof that you're not a playboy, I'm treating you like a playboy!" Sayaka announced cheekily.

Tom sent her a dry look. "Actually, I've only been on a single date, and she was so much of a *bleep* I kinda gave up on it," he replied before sighing again. "But hey, I'm sure the fact that we've been partied up for a month now doesn't mean anything."

"Hoho…?" Kirito narrowed his eyes as a smirk spread across his face at the juicy information.

Sayaka let out a squeak at her prank being turned against her and ducked behind Tom. "Grrr, you win this round…" she grumbled.

"I always do," Tom assured with a grin. "And thank you mom for teaching me some psychology."

"But what's a *bleep*? There was some weird noise when you said that just now…" Sayaka asked in confusion.

"Censorship sucks," Tom groaned. "I can't even swear in a game of Death?"

"Alright," Diabel said, "Now that everyone is partied up-"

"Hold it!" A voice shouted, as everyone looked up as in the back row of the seats, a young man with spiky orange hair jumped forward over the seats, and landed on the stage. "The name's Kibaou. And I've got a little thing to get off my chest." He then pointed at the other players "I'm positive that there are some amongst you that should be apologizing to those 4,000 people who've already died so far!"

Most of the players looked confused, however Diabel's eyes narrowed, while Jorn seemed to facepalm. "Kibaou-san, the people you are referring to are the Beta Testers, right?" Diabel asked.

"Of course I am!" Kibaou snapped. "On the day this crappy game started, the beta testers disappeared, abandoning all us beginners! They monopolized the good hunting grounds and profitable quests, prioritizing themselves over others! And afterwards, they feigned ignorance for doing so!"

He then growled as he faced the crowd again "Some of you are sure to be Beta Testers!" He shouted, "We should have them kneel in apology and hand over the money and items they've been hoarding! I cannot and _will not_ entrust my life to such people!"

There was an uneasy silence, as the players began glancing at one another suspiciously… until another voice spoke up. "Mind if I speak?" The others glanced up as a rather tall bald and muscular african american man with an axe on his back stood up, and walked onto the stage. He walked up towards Kibaou, who took an unconscious step back at the rather imposing-looking man. "My name is Agil, Kibaou, you're basically saying the beta testers should take responsibility for the 4,000 deaths by apologizing and offering respiration because they didn't look after us new players, right?"

Kibaou blinked, but nodded "Y-Yeah," he said. "They didn't do anything to help us!"

"Actually..." Agil said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brown book. "This is the SAO Guidebook, given to all of the players of SAO upon the initial launch. Its free on the Item shop anyways."

"Yeah, I do." Kibaou said, pulling out his own copy. "What about it?"

"The people who wrote these guidebooks and distributed them were Beta Testers." He said, causing several gasps of surprise. "Listen! This information was available to everyone: all 1,000,000 of us! Lists of hunting ground, places to find good items, where to make the best gold, the best alchemy ingredients… all of the same information that the Beta Testers themselves had! And yet still 4,000 people died despite having all of this information! What I thought we were doing was planning how to fight the boss, using what we've learned from these deaths!"

"He's right, you know." Jorn said, "The last thing we need is a witch hunt right now. But we also need to realize that things may have changed since the beta - as things generally do. And even all of the information the Beta's have given us only covers the first 10 floors. After that… whether people are Beta or Beginners, we're all just as much in the dark as the others are."

The others murmured out their agreements, though Kibaou still looked angry. But he grunted as he took his seat, as did Agil.

"Well, now that _that's_ out of the way," Jorn said nodding, "Diabel, the floor is yours again."

Diabael nodded as he took out his own copy of the guidebook. "Alright then, about the boss." He said, as he opened the book. "This book possesses information about Illfang the Kobold Lord in his latest version. As Jorn's party has reported, he is guarded by a mixture of Ruin Kobold Sentinels, Soldiers and Vanguards. Though in the boss room itself, multiple Ruin Sentinels will spawn to defend him. His weapons consists of an axe and a buckler, though once his four health bars go red, he will switch to a curved Talwar sword, and his attack pattern will also change."

Diabel closed the guidebook. "This concludes the briefing," he said, "Though concerning loot distribution, the money is automatically distributed, and XP goes to the party that lands the last hit, and items belongs to whoever gets them. Any objections?" He waited for a moment, though one by one the members all agreed that, all things considered, this was the best plan. "Alright then. We leave at 10;00 AM tomorrow morning. Dismissed!"

Tom hummed from where he was sitting with the others before standing. "I'll meet up with you at Kirito's place in a bit, Sayaka," he said to his partner.

"Eh? Tom-san, where are you going?" Sayaka turned to Tom with a surprised look.

"Just going to see if someone I saw was someone I know," he said with an assuring pat. "I'll meet you at the inn."

Waving he walked away from the group, threading through the crowds as he approached the group that gathered them. "117Jorn, huh?" he called out to them.

Jorn glanced up as Tom approached. "Yes, that is my name." He said, "And you are…?"

"You know me as DragonKnightRyu," Tom informed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So you were trapped in here as well too, huh?"

"Ryu?" Jorn asked, blinking before he smirked. "Dude! I've been looking all over for ya! Good to see your still kicking ya crazy canadian *Bleep*!"

"Yeah, same to you," he returned. "Thought I'd be best on the front lines here."

"Really? I would've thought you'd wanna be a ranger like us," Jorn asked, "Once we get to the third floor, we're officially founding the Aincrad Ranger's guild, there may not be a Job system in SAO, but we can pretend there is one at least."

Tom shook his head in a negative. "Nah, I got a partner," he informed with a vague wave to the crowd. "I'll be sticking with them for the time being."

"Ah… well, if you and your partner ever want to join up, there's always a position open for us." Jordan said with a smile. "We could really use people like you in our soon-to-be guild, Ryu."

Tom gave a small shrug as he opened his menu and sent Jorn a friend request. "I'll be around, but, I got some things I need to do before tomorrow, see you then, Jorn," he told the american.

Jordan nodded as he accepted the request. "See you then, Ryu." He said, "Good luck out there!"

Tom nodded. "Same to you, later," he turned as he walked away, raising his hand in a farewell.

Jordan sighed, as he turned away as he headed away from the stage. ' _Well, at least I know he's alright._ ' He thought as he made his way towards the Inn they used as their home for the time being.

As he entered the inn he saw Rossa leaning by the wall looking over at the window toward the backyard and saw her sighed. He approached her with a look of concern.

"Something wrong Rossa?"

"Dennis is pushing Lux too hard in the training. They been at it since morning"

"Since morning?" Jordan asked with a raised eyebrow as he saw the night settling and the moon starting to rise.

"Mhm. I been here making potions and acting medic for these two. It is mostly been Lux I been treating but she has gotten some lucky shots at Dennis."

"Well at least she improved since they began training." Jordan said as he looked over at the window over.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - With Dennis and Lux**

* * *

Lux did a charging attack towards Dennis with her rapier and before it made contact Dennis leaned to left in the last minuted and elbowed her upper back with enough force to make her drop to floor.

"Oof!" Lux grunted as she landed on the ground and struggled to get up before Dennis helped her.

"You almost had me Hiyori but you tried to attack me where I could see you." He explained, "You are faster than all of us and strenght is decent but you are practically a glass cannon with your lack of defense and low vitality. My elbow dropped your health by a quarter"

"Well it doesn't helped you're wearing that black armor of yours!" Lux shot back as she dusted off herself with a face of annoyance. She was wearing leather armor except her head was exposed.

"My gothic armor has nothing to do with the damage I gave you. It is purely from the strength I invested in with each level." Dennis elaborated as he raised the visor of the armor to give Lux a lecture, much to Lux's annoyance. "There's a reason why I told you to get that double edged rapier. First off rapiers were made to penetrate armor and steel plate. The edges while not as powerful as other slashing swords such as Jordan's dao will still give you an advantage towards unarmored enemies."

"Well can we now take a break?" Lux groaned out. "We been practicing for hours..."

Dennis sighed, "No." He said, "But I got a proposition for you. You know that chocolate cheesecake you been eyeing on for a while? The one that cost 50 col each?"

At that moment Lux paused as her eyes widen and her mouth formed a salivary smile.

"Y-yes!" Lux said as she fantasized about eating the delicious cheese cake, much to Dennis's amusement.

"Hehe. Well if you can hit my blind spot with a critical attack I will buy not just one, but three slices of that cake" Dennis said as the girl became more excited like a dog offered with food.

"Okay you're on!" Lux said as she readied her stance and dennis backed away a little preparing his.

"Strike when you are ready" Dennis said which at that moment the girl started another charging thrust attack.

Dennis sighed as he got ready to counter that attack but before he did lux disappeared in the blink of an eye before reappearing and stabbing her rapier towards Dennis's side with the blade tip being revealed at Dennis's side before Dennis falling to one knee on the ground panting while holding his side with his once full health bar into orange.

"Yay I won!" Lux said excitedly before her face turned to worry and went towards Dennis.

"Oh my god I'm sorry Dennis, are you okay!?"

"I'm fine Hiyori. I am just a little overwhelmed with that attack" Dennis said before he drank a health potion and started to get up.

"All fear Lux! The cake killer of SAO!" Dennis said with a laugh much to the annoyance of Lux.

"Alright killer let's get some of that cake I promised you."

"Yay! Cheese cake, cheese cake,cheese cake" Lux said singingly as Dennis walked toward inside the inn before noticing Jordan.

"Oh you're back Jordan, how was the meeting?"

"Better than expected. I will tell you the details later. By the way Ryu is still alive, I saw him a few minutes ago. He had to be with his partner but he will be with us tomorrow."

"I told you that moose syrup drinking bastard was still alive" Dennis said as he felt lux pulling his arm.

"Cake, cake, cake!" Lux whined

"Calm your tits you blonde midget, I am coming. We can talk more upstairs later." Dennis said as he went to the inns keeper to buy Luxs reward and went towards a table before Lux starting devouring the first slice.

"Always the flatterer isn't he" Rossa said as he saw the two on the table.

"Dennis can be rough but he means well." Jordan said. "When he is with older adults he is very polite and acts quite the gentlemen."

"Pssh I see it when I believe." Rossa said rolling her eyes. "How long have you two been together?"

"Ah, we've known each other since we were in middle school," He said with a smile, "We've been childhood friends since were eleven." He chuckled a bit "Though back then, he was _very_ new to english, but he was able to speak it well enough... despite the heavy accent. Sometimes it makes it difficult to understand what he's saying."

"Oh" Rossa said with an intrigued look. "Where is he from originally?"

"He is from Puerto Rico," He elaborated. "Whose primary language is spanish. He invited me there once on a trip. It's a pretty beautiful place with crystal clear beach waters and lush rain forests but the heat and humidity is intense there."

"Sounds pretty nice." She said, "Any idea why he left?"

"According to him the crime rate is pretty high down there and his parents were worried he become another victim." He said shrugging. "Though he tells me most of his childhood was great in Puerto Rico."

"Well that's a shame."

"Yeah but what can you do."

"You ever thought about the real world and what's happening?" Rossa said almost hesitantly before Jordan sighed deeply.

"I think about it... " he admitted, "I try not to though… I want to let my friends back home I'm alright… I wished there was some way I could talk to them or… or something… " He shook his head. "But as we are now… the only way we're going home is by beating this game… and that's exactly what I'm gonna do." Jordan said before Dennis and Lux approached them. It was obvious with the large grin that Lux was more than satisfied with her meal.

"Alright so what's the plan for tomorrow?" Dennis said

"Okay so the plan is..." Jordan started explaining about the attack plan against the floor boss.

* * *

 **Later - Kirito's House**

* * *

Tom sighed as he rolled his neck and headed into the room that Kirito had gained from completing a special quest, and was greeted by the sight of Sayaka sitting with Asuna, Kirito and Argo discussing battle plans. Asuna had taken her hood off, revealing the visage of an elegant ladylike teen with long brown hair and similarly brown eyes. "I'm here," he called out. "Miss anything important?"

"I'm just wondering why we're stuck with the role of killing the adds…" Sayaka sighed. "I want to whack Illfang himself!"

Tom snorted as he joined the quartet at the table. "I'm sure for all their flowery words, they may want the last attack bonus," he quickly drew up his menu and pulled up his crafting table for leather armors to grind while they hashed out their plan. "So, anyone know what monsters are the adds?"

"[Ruin Kobold Sentries]," Argo said. "At least, that's what they were in the Beta and what the scouting team reported."

"Illfang himself is armed with an axe and shield combo, until you strip him to 1/3rd of his last health bar," Kirito added. "Then he pulls out a talwar, a type of curved sword."

"And he'll use Sword Skills too, right?" Asuna asked with a frown.

"Yeah," Kirito confirmed. "I suppose if I were to pin him down in MMO terms, he's a [Strength] Build Tank, takes a lot of damage, and can dish it back."

"Troublesome, but that means he's not quite as agile, right?" Tom asked. "Although, the secondary weapon concerns me, even if we block it, Illfang's [STR] stat could mean just plain blunt damage.."

"That's why it's important to grind your [Parrying] skill," Kirito advised. "Don't block, divert the attack to the side. And most importantly, dodge."

"Well, that's good for me then," Tom commented. "I'm a dodge type tank, plus I'm pretty good at hitting crits and insta-kills."

"Terryu here is kinda scary one's he get's his hands on monsters," Argo said with a wry grin. "I'll be taking him along when we get to the second floor for the extra skill [Martial Arts]."

Tom shrugged. "I'm a grappler," he explained. "Can you blame me for using what I'm comfortable with?"

"I wanna learn [Martial Arts] too!" Sayaka chirped.

Argo sighed and sent a small glare to the duo. "I should've charge more on the info for that extra skill," she suddenly gave a grin. "But… I'm sure I'll be paid back for this."

"Why?" Sayaka tilted her head sideways, staring at Argo in confusion.

Argo only gave them a cheshire cat grin as an evil chuckle bubbled up from her throat. "500 col."

Tom sighed as he palmed his face. "Not even worth it," he declared as he finished his crafting of a [Hard Leather Tunic] and placed it in his inventory.

"Argo-san is evil," Sayaka grumbled, but pulled out her [Sewing Kit] and started trying to make some simple clothes.

"That is an undisputed fact," Tom agreed with a nod as he started working on the next item. "There is a reason they call her, [Argo the Rat] after all."

"I'll take that as a compliment, nishishishi~" Argo snickered.

The other four at the table sighed in unison at her words. "Only you, Argo, only you," Kirito groaned. "So, we all set for tomorrow?"

"I'm all ready," Asuna said quietly.

"Good as I'll ever be," Tom confirmed as he rolled his right shoulder.

"I want to get my wakizashi upgraded again though…" Sayaka held up her wakizashi. "So far it's 2S1D, but I want a Q on it."

"Unfortunately, until I up my [Blacksmithing] stat, I can't upgrade it anymore than +3," Tom pointed out. "Plus, the option to add in [Quickness] isn't even available to me yet."

"Mugyuu," Sayaka sounded rather disappointed. "I'll have to make do then…"

"Sorry, Sayaka," Tom apologised with a smile. "But, when we get to the next floor, I'll find some prime materials to upgrade your wakizashi with."

"I want a better wakizashi then!" Sayaka bounced back quickly.

Tom chuckled but nodded. "Give me some time to practice and I'll forge you the best one in the game!" he declared proudly. "A wakizashi that can cut through the scales of a dragon!"

"And I also want a katana!" Sayaka cheered.

"Happy-go-lucky, isn't she…?" Kirito chuckled hesitantly.

"So energetic," Asuna agreed. "Like a little sister."

"And I wanna grow up fast so Asuna-nee doesn't pamper me like a little sister," Sayaka added in with a pointed glare at Asuna.

Asuna simply gave an 'Ojou-sama' type of smile at Sayaka. "But I always wanted an adorable little sister to pamper," she informed pointedly. "You don't want to take that away from me…" ominous shadows began to develop over the fencer's eyes. "Do you?"

"Hiiiiiiiiii!" Sayaka shrieked and hurriedly ducked behind Tom in fear.

Tom snorted in response as Asuna began to giggle. "So that's the power of one of Japan's 'Ojou-samas' is it?" he asked wryly. "Quite fearsome indeed."

"Asuna-nee is scary!" a trembling Sayaka whispered.

"Shame on you Aa-chan," Argo said with mock sternness. "Picking on poor little Sacchan like that!"

"Well, you're still calling her -nee…" Kirito pointed out.

"She forced me to!" Sayaka squeaked.

"Ah…" Kirito turned to look at Asuna accusingly.

"Ah!" Asuna squeaked out as she flushed embarrassedly, fidgeting in her seat under everyone's gaze. "Well… I always wanted a little sister… I only have an older brother… so…"

"Tom-san, I'm being guilt tripped!" Sayaka cried out, tugging on Tom's shirt.

Tom's shoulders were shaking as he repressed his laughter. "Welcome to the life of the younger sibling, Saya," he said teasingly, his mirth leaking through into his voice. "Know my pain and suffering as the youngest of four."

"I'm the eldest in my family!" Sayaka complained, folding her arms. "I should not be being treated like a little sister!"

"Now now, Saya," Tom chided, still trying to restrain himself from laughing. "Now you know how your siblings feel."

"Mugyuuuu!" Sayaka grumbled, turning away to stare at the wall.

Tom finally couldn't help it as he belted out into huge belts of laughter as he fell out of his chair from the strength of his laughter.

"You there, stop laughing!" Sayaka glared at Tom angrily.

If anything it only made him laugh harder as he clutched at his stomach, unable to stop himself.

"Wow… he's out of control," Kirito commented. "It's like he's entered a [Laughing Berserker] state…"

"Mugiiiiii!" Sayaka started repeatedly hitting Tom in the back to no effect.

"Oh god… it hurts," Tom managed to gasped out. "My lungs!"

"MUGIIIIIIIIIIIII!" the speed and ferocity of Sayaka's blows increased slightly.

"This is like watching a comedy show," Kirito remarked, sitting back and watching the spectacle with an interested expression.

"Who knew Terryu could laugh like that," Argo said in a mix of surprise and amusement. "It's… it's just so fascinating."

"Why do you call him Terryu anyway, Argo?" Asuna asked curiously.

"50 col," Argo stated with her usual smirk.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Forget it."

Tom finally managed to get his laughter under control as Sayaka glared at him. "That… that was hilarious…" he managed to gasp out.

"Hmmph! I'm not talking to you again!" Sayaka harrumphed and turned away from Ryu.

Tom chuckled. "Well, then I guess you don't really want any of that stew I managed to make," he said with a wry grin.

"Asuna-nee! Tom-san is trying to bribe me!" Sayaka fled to the brunette's side.

"You can cook, Tom-san?" Asuna asked, seemingly more interested in this new revelation rather than the bribery.

Tom shrugged in response. "Stews, meats and potatoes, and the such like," he informed. "But… I can't wait to try and make some good old poutine!"

"What's poutine?" Sayaka asked.

"French Fries smothered in gravy with cheese, real cheese, not that processed crap," Tom explained with a dreamy expression. "Oh so bad for you, but _oh_ so good."

"Sounds unhealthy," Sayaka made a face.

"It is, but it is _so_ good," Tom confirmed. "It is a _true_ Canadian National Dish, not that Beaver Tail crap they try to pass off."

"But can you really call it your national dish when the base is from France?" Kirito pointed out. "French fries."

Tom sent Kirito a look while a dark aura seemed to surround him. "What was that pretty boy?" he asked menacingly.

"Nothing," Kirito squeaked, backpedalling slightly.

"Got that right," Tom 'harrumphed' as he sat back in his seat. "Stupid moon people, insulting my countries pride and joy, next they'll be saying Hockey isn't a real sport or something…"

"Isn't it just people chasing a wooden circle thingy around ?" Sayaka mused. "I don't get it."

Tom sent Sayaka a strange look. "I'll let that slide because you're still young," he informed. "But Hockey is played the world over and Canadians are the rightful champions of the game… plus it's hardened plastic."

"Favouritism!" Kirito groaned. "I'm as young as she is!"

"Damn straight I'm playing favorites pretty boy!" Tom shouted back. "I don't trust pretty faces like yours!"

"Nishishi, how big is the age difference between yourself and Sacchan again?" Argo reminded Tom. "It actually looks kind of illegal from where I'm standing…"

Tom turned his glare Argo. "Argo…" he said in a dark voice. "You want me to tell them about what happened when you fell down a certain pit?"

"You trying to go into the information broker business, Terryu?" Argo showed no sign of being fazed by it. "Well fine, I'll drop it."

Tom snorted. "Not the broker business, no, but it never hurts to have some blackmail on hand," he pointed out with a grin.

"But I still remember you doing **that** to Sayaka last time…" Argo added mysteriously.

Asuna and Kirito turned red.

"I'm just surprised people can actually torque their ankle in this game," Tom countered. "It's a trick I picked up for dealing with it."

"Not that one, I'm talking about when you botched your cooking the first time around and force-fed it to Sayaka when she laughed at you," Argo revealed, waving her hand in the air dismissively. "That was mean of you."

"Yeah, it was! It tasted horrible!" Sayaka cried out. "Asuna-nee, Tom-san was bullying me!"

Tom glared at Argo as Asuna glared at him. "Oh, I will get you for this," he told the broker. "And it will be _humiliating._ "

"Nishishishi, you're welcome to try, _Terryu-chan_. I'm the best there is at gathering information," Argo snickered.

Tom gave her a down right evil grin that sent a chill down everyone else's back. "Who said it'd be blackmail?" he asked. "It'll be public, it will be swift, and it will be oh so _very_ Canadian."

"Kii-bou, I hereby hire you as my bodyguard," Argo declared without missing a beat, opening up a trade window with Kirito. "And Sacchan, information about Terryu."

"Right!" Sayaka chirped.

Kirito sighed. "25,000 col," he told her. "I don't like that look in his eyes."

Indeed, it almost seemed like the foreigner's eyes were alight with malicious intent.

Argo forked it over.

Kirito blinked as the money was deposited into the trade window. "Wow… I didn't think you'd actually be scared enough to trade that much," he commented as he accepted the trade. "I should've shot it higher."

"Heheheheheh," Tom chuckled ominously. "More prey to the slaughter… heheheheh…"

"I'm not taking sides in this," Asuna took a step back and turned to look at an eager Sayaka. "And neither should you, Sayaka…"

"What? But I want revenge on Tom-san!" Sayaka protested.

"Tom-san would probably purposely cook bad food and force feed you with it again," Asuna concluded.

"Argo-san, sorry!" Sayaka ducked behind Asuna.

Tom's eyes flashed. "I hope you are prepared for it, Argo, Kirito," he said ominously. "It could come at any time… in any place… the bullseye is on you now…"

"And if you _do_ hit me with anything, you pay 3 times more for good information," Argo added.

"Ahh… but what are you willing to do to ensure I _don't_ strike at you?" Tom asked challengingly. "Unless… you're willing to have pretty boy here guarding you day and night, waiting for me to make my move…"

"3000 col," Argo smirked.

Tom snorted. "1000, from you," he countered.

An intense staring match ensued, with the onlookers staring as sparks shot between Tom and Argo's gazes. Asuna sighed and stood up. "I'm going to go take a bath. Kirito-kun, your bath's open, right?"

"Uh… right…" Kirito nodded, still engrossed in watching the silent duel.

"I wanna go too!" Sayaka cheered, standing up together with the brunette.

Argo blinked as the staring contest was broken. "A bath?" she asked. "I'm in too!"

"Er… the bath isn't big enough for three people…" Kirito hurriedly said.

"Anything's better than walking around feeling like I'm covered in grime and sweat for days on end!" Sayaka declared, rushing towards the bathroom. "I'm first!"

A burst of speed saw Asuna standing in front of the bathroom door first. "Nope," she said smugly, pushing open the door.

"MUGIIII!" it was quite obvious who had said that.

"Wow… Aa-chan is really fast," Argo commented, hurrying into the bathroom herself as well and leaving the two males alone.

"Hmm… interesting…" Tom mused suddenly lost in thought. "A fencer's quick step… why hadn't I thought of trying that before…"

"Like a flash," Kirito nodded as a sudden brainwave hit him. "She does a really mean Linear with her rapier - it's about 3 times faster than any other Linear I've seen! And she seems to like red… hmmm…"

Tom blinked. "The female Char," he whispered, his and Kirito's eyes meeting as they both pictured Asuna in Char's early Gundam outfit before they both started laughing.

"Tha-That mask doesn't work on her!" Kirito roared in laughter.

"The mask? The outfit doesn't work!" Tom counted in his own laughter.

"Last I heard, a Title system was planned for SAO," Kirito recalled, smacking his open palm with his fist. "I bet you 2000 col she gets either The Red Flash, or The Red Comet."

Tom nodded in agreement, calming his laughter. "But… she's never seen the Gundam series, I least, it doesn't seem that way to me…" he said.

"I don't think the titles will be assigned by the players themselves," Kirito chuckled. "Unlike in other MMORPGs, the Cardinal system is actually intelligent and self-learning. I wouldn't be surprised if it assigned titles by itself instead."

Tom grinned. "If she does get one of those… I have a friend who I think might have Char's theme song on his NerveGear…" he commented. "So… the question is… should we?"

"She'll kill us for this, you know…" Kirito whispered, his eyes flickering over to the bathroom door.

"But… just think of the image it would present… her charging the boss, clad in Char's gear with his theme playing…" Tom said, an evil grin forming on his face. "Just think of it pretty boy."

"It's kind of… worth dying for I guess," Kirito laughed. "Alright, go ahead!"

Tom let out a small bout of maniacal laughter as he opened his crafting screen. "It will take me a while, but I will perfect it! Char's Gear!" he declared, sounding much like a mad scientist as he did so.

"Make sure it's functional so we can sell the idea to her!" Kirito grinned.

"Don't worry, I will, and we probably have plenty of time for her to build up her reputation as the 'Red Comet'," Tom assured as he threw himself into the crafting. "Oh, this is going to be good!"

"But with her preference for lighter armour, wouldn't Sayaka be better equipped to make something like that?" Kirito pointed out.

Tom hummed. "I think I can convince her to help us," he said with a small grin. "As revenge for Asuna making her call her sister."

"It's hard to tell whether she's doing it willingly or not though," Kirito frowned. "She seems to have really gotten used to it anyway."

"Even so, I will convince her," Tom declared passionately. "For the lulz I _must_ convince her!"

"You Westerners are strange sometimes," Kirito let out a chuckle.

"Hey, we got to have our fun somehow," Tom said with a wide grin. "What else did you expect from the people who brought you the piano cat, Numa Numa kid and so on."

Kirito's face suddenly turned serious. "Ryu-san, personally I don't subscribe to the whole outsider hate thing, but quite a few of the Japanese players aren't very fond of the non-Japanese. I've heard a few murmurings - it's almost as bad as the beta tester hate."

Tom's face smoothed into a neutral expression as he looked over to Kirito. "Don't have to tell me that twice," he said with a depressed sigh. "I can feel the glares whenever I'm out with Sayaka… but… if they do try something," his eye glinted. "I will not hold back."

"I'll be right beside you when the time comes," Kirito nodded grimly.

Tom smirked. "And when people try to go after you for being a Beta Tester, I'll stand by yours," he returned.

"Much appreciated," Kirito nodded and relaxed slightly, before he blinked and jumped. "H-H-H-How did you know? Was it Argo!?"

Tom snorted. "The names of Beta Testers are the one piece of info she'd never sell, you should know that," he admonished lightly. "And it was the little things, like lying about 'reading' or 'hearing' about a particularly valuable quest, item, hunting ground… the nervousness during Kibaou's attempt at a witchhunt, and then you just confirmed it for me a moment ago."

"Well…" Kirito sagged. "I thought she might've let it slip or something."

"Nah, she hides her tells pretty well, even hides the fact that she's a beta tester pretty well as well," Tom commented idly as he completed another piece of crafting. "Although, Kirito…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't share this with the others… but… there is going to be deaths in this coming boss battle, you know that, right?" Tom asked for confirmation, meeting the teen's gaze firmly.

Kirito frowned. "I'll be doing my best to prevent them," he said firmly.

Tom closed his eyes before reopening them with a sad smile. "Figured as much," he muttered. "I'll just say this in return, I will refuse any of your attempts to shoulder the blame, guilt or hate of any of the deaths, understood? We all are going into this, knowing we may very well die, do not accept the blame for the choices of others."

The swordsman took a while to process the information before he slowly nodded. "Let's clear this death game with as few casualties as possible."

Tom nodded in return. "That's the plan," he agreed with a chuckle. "Just… keep in mind you don't have to go it alone, alright?"

"Right…" Kirito nodded, mentally grateful for the older Canadian's words.

A shout was heard through the door to the bathroom as laughter was heard. "Sounds like they're having fun," Tom commented.

"A-Argo-san, d-d-d-don't touch me there!"

"Nishishishi~"(basicly it's japanese form of a chuckler or "hehe")

Tom and Kirito sweatdropped in unison. "Umm… I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing," the Canadian stated.

"Hyaaa~"

"How big are these anyway? They should be illegal for someone your age…"

Tom palmed his face as the noises continued. "Oh dear god no," he groaned. "Isn't that supposed to only happen in anime?"

Kirito had flopped onto the bed to wrap a pillow around his head.

"E-E-HYAA!"

"E!? You cheeky girl…"

"S-Stop it…"

Tom sighed. "Sayaka! Use the Armbar I taught you!"

"UGYAAAAA!"

"T-T-T-Tom-san, you heard all that!?"

"LET ME GO!"

"Someone forgot to [Lock] the door!" Tom called out in return.

"You h-h-h-heard nothing!" Sayaka called back.

"IT HURTS!"

"Lock the door and then I won't!"

There was a loud click and the noise went silent.

"Is it… over?" Kirito looked up at Tom.

"Until they come out," Tom answered, his hand still covering his face. "Is that normal for you Japanese? Or are the two of us just that unfortunate to have heard that?"

"Heard what?" Kirito clapped his hands over his ears.

"Point," Tom agreed as he removed his face from his hand, and looked over at him. "Please tell me you have something alcoholic?"

"No alcohol until the higher floors, and that stuff tastes like normal water to me thanks to Cardinal anyway," Kirito said blankly.

Tom's eye twitched as he glared at nothing in particular. "Well… *bleep*…" his eye twitched even harder. "*Bleep*ing censorship."

* * *

 **In front of the First Floor Boss Room**

 **The Next Day**

* * *

After battling through the mobs of the labyrinth leading to the boss room, the raid party was finally assembled before the door. Diabel had everyone take a short half hour breather to regain any lost health, repair gear, and perform any last minute preparations before opening the final door which would lead to the boss room.

Tom sighed as he leaned back against a wall near Sayaka, Kirito and Asuna, who was once again wearing her figure obscuring cloak - Argo remaining behind stating she wasn't exactly boss fighting material. "How's everyone's [Health Pot] supply?" he asked as he scanned through his inventory.

"Didn't use much on the way here, so I'm still fine," Kirito nodded.

"I'm good too," Asuna added with a quick check of her inventory.

"I still have enough for the fight!" Sayaka chirped.

Tom sighed as he nodded, looking around at the gathered crowd as they rested up. "Right…" he muttered as he scanned his inventory, swapping the spare dagger he had been using for his custom made one that looked more like a tanto than a regular Dagger. "Any last minute repairs needed?"

The others in the party shook their heads.

"Alright, remember, we're on crowd control," Tom commented as he scanned for any items he might be forgetting. "So we're ignoring the boss unless we somehow draw its aggro."

"Mugyuu."

"What is it, Sayaka-chan?" Asuna asked curiously, turning to the younger girl.

"I want to attack the boss too!" the girl complained, waving her hands in the air.

The other three chuckled weakly. "Well we're not exactly a full party," Kirito commented as he scratched his cheek. "Plus while Ryu-san is a tank, he can't really take many hits from the boss with his defensive attributes."

" _So sorry_ ," Tom drawled rolling his eyes. "But when I started this build I was pretty much committed when we got trapped."

"But I'm also a dodge tank and DPS too!" Sayaka grumbled, folding her arms.

"Unfortunately, for bosses that won't be enough," Kirito sighed. "They're ridiculously tough and can deal massive amounts of damage with even a glancing blow, so, we need a normal type tank as well."

"Mugyuu," a reluctant Sayaka backed off from the argument, conceding to Kirito's point.

"Also, remember these critical points on the Kobold's body," Tom said. "Neck, heart, and kidney area," he explained. "Although, from the info the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels] wear plate armor and helmets…"

"Eyes?" Sayaka offered, pointing at her own eyes.

"Possible depending on the type of helmet, with the bar types, Asuna would be able to hit their eyes with the stabbing motions of her rapier," the Canadian mused with a small frown. "But… that would be difficult…"

"Only one way to find out," Asuna nodded resolutely, tightening her grip around the handle of her rapier.

Tom nodded. "All that's left is waiting for the signal to go," he said, looking over to the 'lead' party.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Jordan and his own party were huddled together "Alright, here's the gameplan." He said, "Focus on hitting the Vanguards, then we divert our attention to the Boss. Three Vanguards spawn everytime its health goes down a bar, so since he has four bars, that means we're gonna have twelve to deal with. While we're in that room, I don't wanna see any heroics from you guys - that individual hero stuff is a bunch of crap anyways"

"Got it." Rossa said, as Dennis and Lux nodded in agreement.

"Remember why I asked you to memorize the guide to the boss." He continued, "Look for anything that the guide doesn't mention… different combat patterns, different weapons, mobs, _anything_ that the guide doesn't say will be in there. If Kayaba changed this boss, future bosses will have also been changed probably. This battle will set an example for all future boss raids."

Dennis nodded "Right," he said, "Let's kick that Lizard's-"

"Kangaroo."

"KOBOLDS ARE LIZARDS!"

"THEY'RE CLEARLY KANGAROOS! WE JUST FOUGHT A SMALL ARMY OF THEM GETTING HERE! DID THEY LOOK LIKE LIZARDS?!"

"They're lizards!" A voice in the crowd shouted to the pair.

"Have you SEEN one of those Vanguards?!" Jordan shouted back. "They look like *bleep*ing Kangaroos! Take the helmet off, their snouts look like a Kangaroos!"

"Did you really have to egg him on?" Asuna asked Kirito quietly as the teen sniggered.

"What? It's fun," he protested between his sniggers.

"ALRIGHT!" Diabel called out over the din. "Is everyone ready to challenge the boss?"

"Its a Kangaroo..." Jordan muttered but he and the others present all nodded. "We're as ready as we'll ever be!"

Diabel nodded, "Alright, I have one last thing to say then." He said before he grinned, "Let's win!"

"Hoora!" Several of the players shouted, as Diabel put his hand on the door, as the massive steel doors to the boss room began to open.

Jordan let out a sigh "I promised myself I wouldn't do this..." he muttered before he took a deep breath. "But I can't help it." He then began to charge forward. "Let's do this! LEEEERROOOOOYYYYY! JEEENNKKKIIINNNSSS!"

A thrown rock flew threw the air and smacked into the back of his head, sending him tumbling forward.

"Damn Kirito, that's some aim you've got," Tom muttered to the swordsman who chuckled.

"Well… can't have some crazy guy with delusions of grandeur ruin the raid," the teen said as he pulled out the sword he was carrying.

"SCREW YOU DUDE!" Jordan shouted, before the room lit up before the Boss himself - [Illfang the Kobold Lord] - leaped forward, and landed in front of the raiding party with its axe and shield at the ready as it let out a loud roar. And moments later, spawning around him were a trio of [Ruin Kobold Sentinel]s. "Oh, and LOOK! He looks like a KANGAROO!"

"Debate later!" Diabel shouted, as he pointed his sword forward, as the Kobolds began their attack. "Everyone, Commence attack!"

"Sayaka, Kirito, Asuna, on me!" Tom called out as he and his party members charged forward. "Just like we practiced."

"Right!" they chorused as they prepared their weapons.

Tom was the first to clash against the enemy, slashing against the kobold three times before jumping back. "Switch!" he shouted as he leapt.

"On it!" Asuna shouted back as she charged with her [Linear] Skill already in motion, stabbing against the Kobold several times, staggering the kobold. "Switch!"

"Right!" Sayaka shouted as she moved in, cutting at the kobold's neck twice before dodging its counter. "Switch!"

"ORAAAA!" Kirito roared as she drove in with a [Slant] skill that cleaved through the armor of the Kobold, cutting through the monster's body as its remaining HP was depleted, causing it to shatter into motes of light. "Wow… that was easy," Kirito remarked in surprise as the Kobold disappeared.

Meanwhile, Jaden ran towards the second Kobold, as he drew two throwing knives. He tossed the daggers forward, as they both hit the weak spot near the Kobold's neck. "Dennis, switch!" He shouted as he leaped over the Kobold, avoiding its Counter-attack, before Dennis came charging forward with his massive great shield as he bashed it into the Kobold, causing it to stagger back. "Girls! Switch!" He shouted.

Two feminine cries were heard, as Lux and Rossa leaped over Dennis - Rossa wielding a steel tipped spear, and Lux with her rapier as the latter stabbed the Kobold in the head, before Rossa practically thrusted her spear and penetrated its torso armor with the tip going out the other end of the Kobold before she rose the Kobold in the air with the spear diggin in more before she threw the helpless creature to the wall causing it to burst data upon death.

"Wow! I can't believe I got him!" Rossa shouted with a fist pump.

"Keep an eye on your health gauges," Tom called out as more Kobolds spawned. "Don't play skimpy with your Health Pots!"

"I've got one running now!" Sayaka shouted out, rushing forward with [Sprint] and lashing out with her wakizashi to leave a gash in a Kobold's flank as she passed. On his HUD, Tom could see her health still recovering back towards full from just a little above the yellow zone.

"Good!" he called out before taking a Health Pot of his own. "Form up, keep an eye on the boss, try not to draw aggro with it!"

"Mugyuu," it didn't take a genius to tell who the disgruntled noise had come from.

"Hey, don't start getting all grouchy on us," Kirito reprimanded with a grin. "We just need to prove we don't need a full party to kick a boss' ass."

"I'm not grouchy," the very much grouchy Sayaka pouted, even as she pulled off a perfect flying armbar on the Kobold she had attacked earlier, and… relieved it of its weapon with a louder crack than what they had expected.

"I'm beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to teach her grappling," Tom commented as a large bead of sweat dripped down the back of his head. "She is taking to it _far_ too well…"

"That looked painful…" Asuna said with a wince.

"Teach me," Kirito had a glint in his eyes.

Tom sighed. "Yup, this is going to end badly for someone," he announced as he walked toward a charging Kobold. "But… not for me," he sidestepped the Kobold's attack before getting behind it and wrapping his arms around it's neck before snapping it, an insta-kill message popping up.

Sayaka let out a grunt as she straddled the Kobold's shoulders, wrapping her legs around its neck and squeezing hard while yanking its chin up and back with her hands, for a similar insta-kill.

"She's going to be a real demon in the future at the rate she's picking up your martial arts…" Asuna shook her head.

Some of the other parties out on healing rotations were even watching the young girl with mixed looks of shock and awe.

Tom palmed his face. "She really is, crushing their heads between her thighs," he groaned out. "I don't know if I should be proud of the achievement… or worried about her parents finding out I made it possible."

"She's gonna be the Chuck Norris of SAO at this rate then..." Jordan said as he and his party appeared next to Tom's. "Let's just hope she doesn't learn anything related to Fists of the North Star… "

Tom snorted as he rolled his shoulders. "Consider this for a moment, I only taught her _basic_ holds and grabbles along with how the typical spinel structure works and how to properly apply torque," he commented. "And now she's doing that, need I say more, Jorn?"

Jordan blinked for a moment, "She must get the Martial Arts skill." He said, "It'll make these boss battles a LOT easier… "

"It'll happen," Tom affirmed before sighing. "You better get back to your zone, this exactly ain't the place for a friendly chat…"

Jordan nodded, as he grinned "Since Ron ain't here…" he said before he started faking an Irish accent… although he still sounded like he was talking normal Japanese to the Japanese players. "Well, you know what time it is." and drew out a pair of throwing knives, making a loud 'SHINK' sound.

Kirito and Asuna looked at Jordan like he had grown a second head while Tom sighed. "Jorn… shut up," he announced as he rolled his shoulders, walking forwards. "And if you start quoting memes, I will hit you… _**hard.**_ "

"Don't act like I'm the only one who's gonna do it." Jordan said, spinning his knives around. "But fine… now… who wants next dibs on the next set of mobs?"

"He's only going to spawn 1 more set of adds," Kirito pointed out, watching as the clearing group whittled down Illfang's 2nd last remaining health bar at a steady rate. "They're doing quite well for first-timers…"

"Well, we have something worth fighting for!" Tom shouted as he moved in next to Sayaka to cover her back. "After all, I want to be able to see my family again!"

"So do I." Jordan said, cracking his neck.

"Me too." Dennis agreed as he prepared his shield.

"So do we!" Rossa and Lux shouted together, as they readied their own weapons behind them.

Asuna hesitated slightly before adding in, "I… just don't want to die to a death game like this!"

"Come on!" Tom shouted over the din. "Fight for what you want!"

"Oryaaaa!" Sayaka shouted, charging towards the next set of [Ruin Kobold Sentinels] that had just respawned. "For the family waiting for us in real life!"

Tom moved in alongside her, deflecting a slash from a Kobold. "Switch!" he called out, allowing Sayaka to dash in close to the off balance Kobold and quickly slashed its throat twice.

Beside them, Kirito and Asuna were tag-teaming another Kobold. The former went in first, knocking a Kobold away in the middle of its jump attack. "Switch!" he called out.

Asuna dashed right in with a Linear charged and unleashed it right into the Kobold's chest. Her weapon's piercing attribute easily ignored the armour and went right through, piercing the heart for a critical hit and causing the Kobold to dissipate into polygons.

"Gah!" Tom shouted as he misjudged the path of the Kobold's spear, getting stabbed in his stomach region. "Thank god there isn't any pain or this would be a bitch!"

"Getting a bit sloppy, Ryu-san?" Kirito chuckled, engaging the final Kobold of the bunch together with Sayaka and Asuna.

Tom glared at him slightly as he popped the lid of the Health Pot and drank it. "Stuff it pretty boy," he growled as he allowed his HP gauge to refill. "Or better yet I can do it for you."

"Kirito-kun, it's not nice to trash talk your party…" Asuna rejoined the group standing off to one side potting.

"Yeah, listen to your wife pretty boy," Tom teased with a grin as the pair flushed.

"A-A-As if!" Asuna harrumphed, folding her arms and looking away. "Who would marry this guy?"

Kirito seemed to gain an aura of depression around him as Tom snickered. "Ow, that one hurt me just by association," Tom teased.

"But you're calling him -kun already, aren't you?" Sayaka laughed, at which Asuna twitched slightly.

"It's true, maybe she likes him more than she cares to admit," Tom speculated with an appraising look.

"We-We're not like that!" Asuna continued to protest.

"I don't know…" Tom commented, but dropped it anyways as he looked over to the boss

"Mugyuu."

"How's it looking Jorn?" Tom called out as his health topped off.

"Mobs have been taken care of," Jordan said, nodding his head as the parties focused on the Boss itself, as its health bar closed in on going red. "Once its bar finally goes red, it'll switch weapons, then we surround him, and take him out. "

No sooner than he said that, Illfang's heath bar finally hit the red zone, and immediately after he dropped his axe and shield, and reached for the sword on his back. However, oddly enough, Diabel began to charge forward, as he prepared his sword skill.

Illfang drew out his sword… and immediately Jordan and Kirito's eyes widened. "Wait… that's not a talwar..." Jordan said.

"Its a nodachi!" Kirito finished.

"Umm, so that means he's not using a curved sword type weapon?" Sayaka asked in confusion as she rejoined the group from where she had savaged the Kobold earlier.

"No, it also means his attack patterns are completely different," Tom breathed as his eyes widened.

Kirito shouted out, "DIABEL, MOVE!"

Diabel didn't seem to respond as his sword began to glow, the Skill Assist taking over as his body moved towards Illfang.

He was too slow, however, as the Boss Monster moved first, leaping away from Diabel to bounce off one of the pillars, building up momentum as it continued to bounce of the walls in the Boss room.

"What was that!? That was way too fast!" one of the other players shouted.

Abruptly, it dropped right behind Diabel, who couldn't quite react in time before Illfang crashed down behind the charging self-proclaimed Knight just as he turned around still locked in the freezing motion after executing a failed Sword Skill. The impact sent him flying a good distance away with a red gash traced across his front from Illfang's outstretched sword.

"Not good, not good!" Tom gritted his teeth, rushing forward to try and help.

Illfang's Sword Skill hadn't ended yet though, as it leapt past the still-airborne Diabel and swung the nodachi in a wide arc to violently arrest his momentum. The blue-haired teen was sent flying back in the direction he had came from, and rolled several times on the ground before he came to a stop.

"DIABEL!" Kibaou roared out, but Illfang suddenly dropped down behind him before he could so much as take a single step, forcing him to turn back and engage it.

"Kirito, help Diabel!" Tom shouted out. "Squads B and C, draw the boss's aggro!"

"No!" Sayaka ran forward to join Kirito as well, a horrified look on her face.

Kibaou looked back at Diabel for a moment before he roared, "Damn it!" and turned around to meet Illfang's nodachi with an awkward block of his own that knocked him back slightly.

Tom growled as he looked around at the growing chaos. ' _Not good… Diabel is the lynchpin that kept these people working together! Without him, it'll be hard to keep everything working!_ ' he thought to himself. "Tank squads! Switch with squads B and C, allow them to heal up!"

"I'm on it! Tanks on me!" Dennis said as he and other heavy armor players approached the boss with shields up and attack the boss to get the attention on them while trying to block most of his attacks.

Kirito skidded towards the fallen Diabel, dropping his own sword as he pulled up his inventory to materialize a health potion. He swore when he saw the other teen's health bar steadily decreasing - and it was already in the red! "Why did you try to do it alone!?" he pushed the potion towards Diabel, only to meet a hand in resistance.

"You… were a beta tester, weren't you…?" Diabel whispered weakly. "You… know what I was after…"

Kirito sucked in a breath as he realized exactly why the other teen had done what he had, and everything else clicked into place. "You… were after the rare item you get from the killing blow… The Last Attack bonus… You were a beta tester, too?"

Diabel forced a smile as his health slipped into the very last vestiges. "I… I'm done for, the health pot won't offset the damage I took anywhere near enough… D-Defeat the boss…"

"What?" Kirito's eyes widened as Diabel's health bar vanished, and his avatar began to turn transparent.

"Defeat the boss… for everyone…" were the blue-haired knight's final words.

Diabel shattered into polygons, wafting away on a nonexistent breeze as his life was extinguished from the world of Sword Art Online.

Kirito looked on with a horrified expression.

Kibaou, who was just getting up from being knocked down, watched helplessly, reaching out a hand as if it would stop the distant, drifting pieces of Diabel's avatar from disappearing.

"You *Bleep* ing IDIOT DIABEL!" Jordan shouted, before he cursed again as he dodged one of Illfang's attacks. "*Bleep*! Mother*bleep*er!"

Sayaka sank to her knees beside Kirito, pale in shock.

Tom knelt down next to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder, offering what little comfort he could.

"No… Diabel-san…" Sayaka whispered, shaking her head violently. "No, no! He can't be dead! After all that he did… WHY!?"

"Unfortunately, it's something beyond our control," Tom whispered and he looked at Sayaka with sad eyes. "We can only accept what he tried to do into ourselves, and carry on his work."

"He… was after the Last Attack bonus," Kirito said with a downcast look.

Tom looked away from the shell shocked Sayaka and looked up at Asuna. "Go," he ordered in a stern voice as he stood up. "On your feet, Kirito," he commanded. "You and Asuna are ending this fight, no one else dies."

"What about you?" Kirito asked, even as he stood up.

"I'm staying with Sayaka," Tom explained, keeping a firm grip on her shoulder. "She's in shell shock right now, I… I need to make sure she's safe."

Kirito nodded and turned to look at Illfang, who was easily fending off a few of the players that had tried to surround him. "Keep her safe. We don't need any more casualties."

"I plan on it," Tom assured. "Just make sure you kick that thing's *bleep*ing *bleep*."

"It's censored," Kirito pointed out the obvious, rolling his eyes despite the situation at hand although he could roughly get what the older male was trying to say anyway. "Asuna, we'll do it the same way we did the Sentinels."

"Got it," Asuna nodded as the two charged forward.

Illfang, having just finished knocking back several more players, noticed the incoming duo and quickly turned to face them, its nodachi at its side and charging up for a Sword Skill judging by the white glow radiating from it.

Kirito let out a battle cry as he charged in, preparing a Sword Skill of his own. The [Rage Spike] clashed against Illfang's own [Tsujikaze], knocking both of them back as the Sword Skills cancelled each other out. "Switch!"

Asuna dove in to unleash her own charged [Linear], but just as she was about to strike, Illfang's eyes flashed briefly.

Kirito instantly caught on and he yelled, "Asuna!"

A split second later, Illfang's nodachi came down in a diagonal slash towards the cloaked girl. Asuna just barely managed to duck under the attack in time, but it did manage to hit her cloak and tear it apart. Without missing a beat, she charged up another [Linear] and drove it home into Illfang's stomach, knocking it back.

Kirito, having never seen the usually cloaked girl in battle without it, found himself entranced by her beauty momentarily, but he quickly snapped out of it when he heard Illfang roar again as it climbed back to its feet. "It's coming back!"

Rising to his feet and charging Illfang, Kirito deflected a nodachi swing to allow Asuna to get in another [Linear], before he had to quickly dive back into the fray while Asuna was on cooldown to prevent the boss from getting in a hit on her.

A slash from diagonally above, blocked. An upwards swing from below and off to the right, blocked again. And another one from the right, Kirito never let a single one through as he fended off Illfang's onslaught with apparent ease.

Kibaou, looking on, started to connect the dots.

A pink glow from Illfang's sword while on a downward swing prompted Kirito to unleash another [Rage Spike] to counter it, but the nodachi seemingly faded away into thin air mid-swing and came in from a completely different direction.

' _Shit, he feinted!'_ Kirito thought as the blow knocked him back, sending him crashing into Asuna and causing both of them to tumble to the ground together.

"Asuna, Kirito!" Tom shouted out, clenching his free hand, but remained unmoving from his spot of watching over Sayaka.

Thankfully, he didn't need to as when the Boss made a move to attack the downed pair, Agil stepped in to parry the hit with a heavy upwards swing from his two handed axe. "Stop trying to play the role of a tank, Kirito," the large man chided. "Leave that to the real tanks."

"Go! Let's get him!" a few of the other players rushed in, their weapons outstretched.

"Agil-san…" Asuna blinked owlishly.

"You two heal up," Agil commanded. "We'll keep the boss busy for the time being."

"You ain't good to us dead you two so I would follow Agil's advice" Dennis said as he went back to help the other tanks.

"BRING IT ON YOU KANGAROO MOTHER*BLEEP*ER!" Jordan shouted as he leaped into the air, tossing his throwing knives, hitting the face of Illfang right in its eye, causing the Boss to roar as it backed off. "We'll hold him off for ya!"

"Kirito… Asuna…" Sayaka whispered, having roughly caught on that the two of them were in trouble through her daze.

"They're alive, Sayaka," Tom assured. "They're just getting ready to hand the boss his *bleep*."

"I… I can't move…" the girl whimpered, shaking all over. "K-Knowing I… I could end up l-l-like Diabel-san…"

Tom placed his hand around her in a supportive hug. "Didn't I promise you?" he asked. "You _will_ survive."

"I… I just… I just can't…" Sayaka sobbed, rolling into a fetal position, still trembling.

Tom held onto her tightly, clenching his teeth. ' _I shouldn't have brought her… dammit!_ ' he cursed himself. ' _None of these kids should be here, risking their lives while those fucking cowards that call themselves adults sit pretty in the cities._ '

"I promise you, Sayaka," he breathed to her. "Even if it takes my life, you will escape."

"I can't just let you die for me like that, Tom-san!" Sayaka shouted abruptly, even as she curled up even tighter. "I… I… I can't go on… not with the way I'm feeling now…"

"I know, I shouldn't have brought you," Tom said as he stroked her hair soothingly. "This… risking your life… it was stupid of me to bring you."

"It… It hurts… Tom-san…" Sayaka cried, clutching her heart. "I… I came here hoping to prevent another death… but… I couldn't do it… I couldn't do it! Diabel-san still died! And all I could do was watch…"

"It's not your fault, Sayaka," Tom assured. "You did everything you could, everyone did, but… sometimes… it never will be enough."

"I wasn't… strong enough…" Sayaka whispered, clenching her fists. "But I can't get stronger if I don't move on… but I can't move… I'm so scared, Tom-san!"

Tom closed his eyes as he held her close. "It's alright, Sayaka, fear is normal," he whispered to her. "I'm scared too, I'm scared of failing."

Another loud roar rang out through the room, causing Tom to turn to look just as Illfang leapt into the air above the players it had knocked down earlier in a clear repetition of the move it had used to kill Diabel earlier.

"I won't let you!" Kirito raised his sword above his own shoulder, charging it blue in preparation to unleash the [Sonic Leap] Sword Skill. He released the pressure, launching himself into the air and cutting across Illfang's stomach mid-drop, cancelling its deadly attack and sending it crashing into the ground harmlessly.

"But as fear can be crippling, it can also encourage people to fight harder," Tom muttered as he watched Kirito cancel another attack, allowing for Asuna to dash in with her [Linear] skill, rapidly hitting the boss. "Like Kirito and Asuna."

Even as he spoke, Kirito came in again hot on Asuna's heels with a downwards [Slant] that carved another gash open in the boss. He masterfully chained right into another Sword Skill, a [Vertical] this time that bisected Illfang right in half and sent it flying into the air.

"I… I still can't take it, Tom-san… Maybe… maybe…" Sayaka whispered, her eyes gaining a faraway look in them.

A bright glow emanating from Illfang chest across the room, accompanied by its waning death throes.

"Maybe I should just stop feeling."

Illfang's body shattered into glowing polygons and dissipated into thin air.

The crowd of players erupted into cheers as the boss shattered, a large banner with the word 'Congratulations' appearing above them all.

Tom sighed as he sat down next to Sayaka. "But, if you stop feeling, that means you no longer have hope," he told her. "Look at their faces, Sayaka, they have hope again."

"Why should I care about hope?" Sayaka looked up, her now dead-looking eyes boring into Tom's own. "So long as we keep winning and beating the death game… that's all that's needed."

Tom's breath hitched slightly before he frowned. "Sayaka, I refuse to allow you to do this to yourself," he told her in a low whisper, suddenly pulling her close to him. "Do _not_ shut yourself down I don't care if you show nothing to the world, but I _forbid_ you from shutting yourself down like this."

In stark contrast to the bright, cheerful young girl who had been in the party earlier, Sayaka replied coldly, "I'll do what I like, Tom-san. Hope means nothing to me now - I need the strength to move on from this. If my emotions are getting in the way of me getting more strength, then I might as well just remove them."

Tom gritted his teeth but calmed himself before he drew attention to the two of them. "We are not done discussing this, Saya," he told her. "I've seen what happens when people shut off their emotions, it does not end well."

Sayaka directed a hollow stare at Ryu. "I don't care," she stated flatly.

Tom closed his eyes for a brief moment before reopening them and to her shock, slapped her right across the face. "Do not insult me," he told her, his voice was quiet, but steely. "You can act as empty as you want, but do _not_ lie to me and do not insult my intelligence, because you _do_ care."

"W-What proof do you have that I _do_ care anyway?" Sayaka turned back towards Tom, cradling the handprint on her cheek as her empty tone cracked slightly.

"Because, you want to bawl your eyes out," Tom said, his voice softening slightly. "I will not stop you from hiding yourself from the world - lord knows I've done it myself before - but, promise me, Saya, do not hide from me, Kirito or Asuna, all of us care about you."

"Eh…?" Sayaka paused as she felt tears sliding down her cheek. She hurriedly wiped them off. "I'm not crying," she said obstinately, although her voice had a bit more life in it as her usual childishness leaked through.

"Even if you are not crying physically, your soul is," Tom whispered, placing his forehead against hers. "Saya, ask yourself this, is becoming a machine what your parents, your family would want to see from you?"

Sayaka interrupted Ryu, holding up her hand even as she blinked back more tears. "I'll cry later," she whispered, looking around them at the celebrating clearing group.

"I'll hold you to it," he told her as he guided her forward, gripping her hand with his own. "Let's meet back up with Kirito and Asuna."

Before they could move a step though, a loud voice rang out through the room. "Why!?"

The clearing party fell silent as all eyes turned to look at the cactus-haired man who had spoken up.

"Why'd you do it, huh?" Kibaou questioned angrily. "Why'd you let Diabel die?"

You could hear a pin drop in the room after the question was spoken, the players staring at the orange haired man in shock. "Let him die?" some in the crowd whispered as Kibaou glared at Kirito with tears in his eyes.

"That's what I said! Admit it, you knew the technique the boss was going to use!" the man accused. "Why didn't you tell us, then we would have known, and Diabel wouldn't have had to die!"

Kirito's eyes widened at the accusation as the crowd began to murmur in an accusatory manner, looking over at Kirito with angry eyes. "I know why he knew!" another spoke up. "He used to be a Beta Tester! Think about it, he knew the boss's attack patterns he _knew_ but he kept it from us!" the person wasn't done, however. "And I bet he's not the only Beta Tester here! Come on, show yourselves!"

"And then what?" Tom called out as he walked forward, Sayaka walking near him with a blank expression on her face. "Form a lynch mob? Drive away the people who can actually help us clear this game? People who have been _trying_ to help us, only to get scorned for being a 'Beta Tester'?"

"That doesn't change the fact that this guy didn't tell us about Illfang's attack pattern! And the other beta testers have been unfairly using their knowledge to get ahead of the rest of us!" Kibaou fired back stubbornly.

"And how was he to know if it wasn't changed?" Tom countered harshly. "Like the weapon he used, it was completely different from the Beta, if he told you about the attack patterns of the Beta, then _more_ people could have died and he _still_ would have been blamed!"

"And what would you know about that, outsider!?" Kibaou snapped, referring to Tom's obvious non-Japanese looks. "You've never been in the Beta before either, how can we be sure the guidebook was never written by dirty Beta testers who wanted to sabotage our clearing efforts!?"

A low murmuring arose from the clearing group as they began seeing the point in Kibaou's argument.

"Do you have _any_ idea how stupid that sounds?" Jordan muttered as he face-palmed. "You _do_ realize the whole Death-Game wasn't implemented the Beta was long and over with."

"Why would they sabotage them!?" Tom shouted in return, his own anger coming close to snapping. "We are _all_ trapped in here, we _all_ have people waiting for us outside of this game, sabotaging our efforts benefits _no one._ "

"Except themselves!" Kibaou yelled back. "They're trying to weed out the competition, get the best drops they can just to power through the game by themselves!"

"Dear God man, listen to yourself!" Tom raged. "You're sounding like a *bleep*ing goddamn Nazi defending his 'right' to kill Jews! Is that what you want to start up? *bleep*ing Concentration Camps?"

"I don't get what you're saying, outsider, but you can go be buddy buddy with that *bleep*ing Beta Tester all you like!" Kibaou dismissed Tom's argument. "Those cheaters should all just go to hell!"

Tom snorted. "Fine then, however, don't come crying to me when you need help," he stated as he turned away from Kibaou. "And some wonder why the Japanese are considered to be idiots."

"If anyone's the idiot, you're the idiot!" Kibaou fired back. "Beta tester, cheater… Beater-lover."

"Oi."

Kibaou looked down, realizing that the black-haired girl at Tom's side was suddenly in front of him. "What, you got something to say, little brat!?" he snapped.

"Idiot," Sayaka swung her leg upwards, impacting on a certain point right between Kibaou's thighs. The males in the area winced collectively as Kibaou collapsed to the ground, his hands covering his not-hurting area in reflex.

Tom snorted. "You're lucky pain is disabled," he told Kibaou, looking over his shoulder. "And if I'm a Beater-lover, then so be it, but at least I'll actually live long enough to see my family again."

"L-Little demon!" Kibaou roared as Sayaka skipped off, a bit too happily to rejoin Tom. "You'd better pray you don't see me again!"

Kibaou blinked as he suddenly found himself being hauled up by his collar by the Canadian who held an unholy rage in his eyes as he met the Japanese man's eyes. "Try it," Tom whispered. "I dare you, see what happens."

"You wouldn't dare," Kibaou hissed. "You'd become orange."

"I don't care," Tom countered. "I'd gladly become an orange player to protect someone, so I dare you to try me."

"Tch, you're not getting away with this…" Kibaou finally backed off.

"See if I care," Tom said with a scoff as he rejoined the others. "Let's get out of here, I hate the smell of cowards."

"Y-You didn't have to do all that for my sake…" Kirito whispered, turning to look at the stairs heading up.

"Ah shut up pretty boy," Tom said as he cuffed Kirito in the back of his head. "Squaddies don't abandon one another."

"He's right, Kirito-kun. We're a party, right?" Asuna added in.

"Tom-san, not all Japanese are idiots," Sayaka muttered from beside him in a slightly indignant tone, tugging at his shirt.

"Of course not, Saya," Tom agreed as he grinned at her, ruffling her hair. "Just guys like him."

"So… do I get a party invite?" the dark-skinned African American who had tanked the hit for Kirito and Asuna earlier grinned as he walked up to the group. "You guys seem like a fun bunch to hang around - more fun than those guys anyway."

"Ah, Agil, was it?" Tom asked in slight surprise.

"Yup," Agil nodded, before switching to perfect English - it just had that tone that the system auto translator didn't carry through. "Besides, it'll be nice to hang around with someone who actually speaks good English once in a while."

Tom blinked before laughing. "Well, no offense to these guys, but I have to agree," he commented. "Plus, I don't think the Auto-Translate has all the slang worked out yet."

"Mugyuu."

"What?"

"Teach me English," Sayaka said flatly.

"Oh, the little runt here wants to learn the finer language?" Agil joked, receiving an elbow to the side for his trouble although he barely even flinched.

"Mugyuu. I'm not a runt."

"Nah, she's a midget," Tom said with a nod, getting an elbow of his own for his trouble. "Not even a tickle."

"Mugiiiiiii."

"Maybe she'd prefer little demon?" Kirito threw in, dodging the elbow.

"Or maybe Tiny Fairy?" Asuna joined in on the teasing with a smile.

Sayaka tripped over, but climbed back up in an instant and was at the rapier-user's side quickly, hugging her arm. "Asuna-nee understands me the best!" she finally completely broke out of the somewhat emotionless tone she had been using.

Tom chuckled as the group started moving again, sending an invite to Agil. "Well, I can teach you English, Saya," he told her. "But, only if you teach me Japanese."

Sayaka pointed a finger at herself in slight surprise. "I'm not a good teacher though…" she sagged.

"Eh, can't be any worse than the last person I got to teach me," he commented.

"I'm actually quite interested myself in learning English from a real Westerner…" Kirito spoke up.

Asuna nodded as well. "It _would_ be a good change of pace…"

"Well, should be less painful than teaching Saya grappling," the Canadian muttered.

"You sure have a lot of things going on, buddy," Agil chuckled.

Tom shrugged. "Well, at least I don't feel like an adult surrounded by kids anymore," he groused. "Seriously, I would not be able to get smashed around any of these three, well, not in the fun way anyways."

"I'm planning on opening up my own shop in the future. There should be some alcohol I can get my hands on…" Agil dangled the carrot.

Tom's eyes glinted with glee. "Oh *bleep* the *bleep* yes," he said happily. "And *bleep* you censorship!"

"What does alcohol taste like?" Sayaka asked cluelessly.

Asuna glared at the two older males.

"Well, it depends, I find Sake to be a mix of a bitter-smooth taste," Tom commented idly. "Hop based alcohol is disgusting, while liquors have a burn to them…"

A glowing pink rapier point stopped just in front of Tom's face. "Don't corrupt Saya-chan," Asuna warned.

Tom blinked. "Hey, according to pretty boy over there, Alcohol just turns into water for minors, so no plans on doing any alcohol based corruption."

"I don't serve alcohol to minors anyway," Agil held up his hands placatingly.

"You're corrupting her future after we clear this death game," Asuna pointed out.

Tom sighed in response. "Who would you rather she tries it with, someone she trusts and won't take advantage of it, or with a complete and utter stranger?"

Sayaka looked between the two, apparently divided and confused. Eventually she settled on clinging to Asuna's side again. "Alcohol is bad?" the black-haired girl asked.

"Alcohol is bad," the brunette confirmed.

Tom threw up his hands in defeat. "Whatever," he declared. "All I know is that I can get me some good rhum."

"Meh, not much of an Alcohol fan… I just use it for the medical usages in-game." Jordan said, "It's pretty useful in healing potions believe it or not…"

"Wait, really?" Rossa asked blinking. "Why didn't you tell me before?!"

"Alcohol is a rare item in the lower levels until we get higher, where it's more widely available." He elaborated. "'Sides, I thought you already read the guide - it explained it all in there."

"Agil, you and I are going to do some grinding tomorrow," Tom stated blandly, getting a grin from the large man. "We need liquor, and for more than medicine and drinking."

Jordan sighed, as he facepalmed "Great… just what we need." He muttered, "One of these days… I don't know when… I need to learn when to shut my *Bleep*ing mouth… "

"I take it you know these guys, Ryu-san?" Kirito asked, turning to Tom who sighed.

"Jorn I know, I do some writing online with him," he stated, pointing to Jorn. "The rest, not so much."

"Nice to meet ya'll." Jordan said nodding, "Yeah, me and Ryu are friends online. With me is my friends Dennis, Rossa and Lux."

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you," Asuna greeted. "I'm Asuna, and this is Kirito and Sayaka."

Kirito chuckled slightly as he waved while Sayaka simply just stared at them blankly for a moment before stepping closer to Tom.

Jordan blinked at Sayaka's reaction "Uhh… something I said?" He asked.

"Don't worry about it," Tom dismissed quickly, placing a hand on her head, sending Jorn an obvious 'drop it' look.

"Ah, well… glad we finally got past the first boss despite that little… curve ball." He said, dropping it as Tom requested. "Now we can _finally_ move on to Floor 2… hopefully we can make it all the way to 3 where we can start creating Guilds… " He then chuckled a bit "I know this may sound awfully soon and all, but once we do reach Floor 3, I wouldn't mind ya'll joining… you've sure as hell proved you can kick *bleep* good enough."

Tom waved his hand in a negative. "Probably not," he commented. "We'll be sticking with each other."

"Fair enough, though the door's always open." Jordan said, before he looked at the stairs. "Well, enough chit chat… let's start climbing those stairs! This game isn't gonna clear itself after all."

Tom shrugged and looked over to Sayaka with a small smile on his face and held out his hand to her. "Ready?" he asked her softly.

Sayaka gave the stairs a long, hard look for several seconds before nodding and taking Tom's hand.

Tom gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before they started off, Kirito, Asuna and Agil falling into step with the pair. "Well, that's one floor cleared," Tom murmured as they came up to the door. "99 more to go."

"It's a long way to go…" Kirito sighed, scratching his head as he studied the item he had gotten from the Last Attack Bonus on the boss. After a bit of debating, he equipped it and a long black coat materialized around him.

"Going for the Neo look, pretty boy?" Tom asked teasingly.

"It has some pretty good stats," Kirito shrugged.

"It does look nice," Asuna threw in.

"I want a cloak too," Sayaka grumbled.

"Well, I'm sure between me, you, and Asuna we can make one three times as good," Tom said as they came up to the door. "Well, this is it, ready?"

"And if you _do_ make one three times as good, make more of it," Kirito challenged, letting out a sigh.

"I want a red one," Asuna said instantly.

She blinked a few times in confusion as Kirito and Tom let out loud snorts of laughter.

"Oh, this is going to be _fun_ ," Tom said with a wide grin, placing a hand on the door. "Shall we do this?"

"You've asked that basically twice now," Sayaka reminded with a small smile. "Let's go."

Tom rolled his eyes before pushing against the door, causing light to flood in as the door opened, revealing a rolling plain of tall grass with a rising sun covering the area in a golden light. "Well… damn that looks good."

"I wonder what kind of monsters are going to be on this floor?" Sayaka peeked out of the doorway.

"Well, the guidebook says it's a bovine-themed floor…" Agil combed through the guidebook he had fished out of his inventory.

"Bovine?" Sayaka asked, not recognizing the word.

"Moooo," Tom responded, mimicking the cry of a cow.

Sayaka stared at Tom like he had grown a second head.

"Cows, Sayaka, Cows," he clarified with a grin.

The black-haired girl burst out laughing. "Th-That moo… that moo…" she got out between peals of laughter.

Tom chuckled with her as the rest of the party joined in on the laughter. "Yeah, yeah, grew up on the farm, heard them all the time from my neighbors," he explained. "So, where's the closest inn?"

"The closest, and the main city on this floor is Urbus," Agil flipped a few pages on the guidebook. "It's about a kilometer away from here, just follow the path."

"Well, only one way to get there," Kirito commented as he folded his hands behind his head, walking towards the town. "I think it's about time for a nap."

"You sure like sleeping, don't you…" Asuna sighed. "But a nap does sound good…"

Tom yawned in agreement, blinking a few times. "Odd, I wasn't that tired till pretty boy mentioned having a nap," he scratched his scalp for a bit.

A sudden weight leaning against his side drew Tom's attention to the gently swaying girl by his side, with drooping eyes.

Tom chuckled slightly in response. "Want a piggyback ride, Saya?" he asked her softly.

"Don't need one," Sayaka said stubbornly, walking for several steps before bumping into Agil's side.

The party chuckled at her before Tom suddenly scooped her up in his arms. "Yeah, you're dead on your feet," he told her.

"Mugyuu," she grumbled, but didn't resist the action as she cuddled into Ryu's chest.

"So cute," Asuna giggled in amusement. "I wonder, siblings? Or a couple?"

Sayaka didn't respond.

"And dead asleep," Tom muttered with an amused smile. "Let's get her into a bed."

The others nodded in agreement as they continued down the path to Urbus.

* * *

 **END CHAPTER**


	3. Second Floor Pt 1: Bulbous Bow

Disclaimer: Buy the official release, which this is not.

* * *

 **Aincrad, Second Floor**

 **Urbus, Tom's Inn Room**

* * *

Tom groaned slightly as he slowly came into consciousness from his sleep, letting out a jaw cracking yawn, before pausing as he felt an odd weight on his side.

Cracking his eyes open he froze at the sight of a head of black hair nestled up against his bare chest, a quick look under his sheets confirmed that his pants were still indeed on his body, and that his bed companion herself was clothed in a simple nightgown.

Looking closely he let out a small sigh as he saw Sayaka's slumbering face before placing the bed sheet back down and maneuvered himself into a sitting position, deciding to wait for the girl to wake on her own.

Opening his menu he spotted a message from the [Cardinal System] addressed to all players with the title Line of [Second Floor Patch Updates].

 _Greetings to all SAO Players, this is an announcement for a General Patch Update that is released with the clearing of the first floor, there are several important notes, so please be sure to look over this message._

 _Blood is now enabled, now you will no longer just have a glowing line when struck by a weapon, but you will be bleeding, please be aware that serious bleeding wounds can bring about damage over time, and losing too much blood can have serious ramifications, so please, keep an eye out for the new [Blood Clotting] and [Blood Replenisher] potions and recipes!_

 _Graphical Update, we have greatly improved upon the graphics of the game so that it can feel and look even more real for you, so please, enjoy the scenery!_

 _We have fixed several errors and bug found both by the players and by the [Cardinal System], we apologies for any issues those bugs have caused!_

Tom sighed as he closed the screen, shaking his head. ' _Blood is enabled now, huh?_ ' he thought to himself with a frown. ' _That will make this dangerous, I can't really fool around with just Hand-to-Hand skills with this level of danger, I really should look at a different primary weapon set… especially if,_ ' he looked down at Sayaka, placing a hand on her head as he heard her whimper slightly, curling up against him tighter. ' _Especially if I'm going to uphold my promise to her._ '

Shaking his head slightly he manipulated his menu to open up the journal and started writing in it, making notes on things he had seen, and writing down several theories on possible mental and emotional effects that being trapped in this [Death Game] could bring.

 _Major Issue: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - One thing I've only just realized - and am kicking myself for not realizing sooner - is that PTSD is going to be running rampant through those of us trapped within SAO, with seeing people around them die, especially considering that the vast majority of them are just civilians with no experience witnessing death first hand._

 _I already know of one confirmed person with it, Sayaka, seeing Diabel die against the boss, right in front of her, has brought her to start burying her emotions deeply within herself, to prevent a complete emotional shutdown, I have taken to forcing her to open herself up with a select few number of people, namely myself, and two of our party members, Kirito and Asuna, the latter of whom she already has started forming a strong sisterly bond with. It is my hope that with keeping her emotionally connected to us, it will lead off any build up of emotions that would drive her to attempting to take her own life._

 _Another possible case, is Kibaou, he seemed to have become strongly dependant on Diabel during the short time of their association, placing all of his hopes onto the young man, and as a result of his death, this has led to Kibaou lashing out at what he felt to be the easiest target - Beta-Testers - hopefully I headed off the worst of his attempts at a Witch Hunt by comparing what he was attempting with Nazism, but, I'm still worried about possible lynch mobs forming as a result of his possible PTSD._

"T-Tom-san… Don't go…" Sayaka murmured in her sleep, tears tracking wet trails down her cheeks as she grabbed around. She only stopped crying when her hands found the hem of Tom's pants.

Tom gave her a sad look as he rested a hand atop of her head, humming a soft, calming, tune to help her calm down in her slumber. "I'm here, Saya," he whispered to her. "I always will be."

He smiled as she seemed to still in her slumber and turned back to his journal.

 _Long Term Issue - When we do finally escape from this [Death Game] there is going to need to be a large effort put towards the reintegration back into normal society, especially for the children who may very well end up spending a good chunk of their school years trapped in here, falling further behind those their own age._

 _Side Note - Perhaps talk to some adults who don't want to be on the front lines to set up a school for the younger children? At the very least teaching them the basics so that they can get back into the school's easier._

"No… homework…" Sayaka complained.

Tom blinked and chuckled quietly as he noticed her still asleep. "Sharp instincts she has," he murmured, closing the journal. "If I'm really going to switch from my dagger, to something more… defensible, what should I use?"

He quickly scanned through his item list, looking through all of his gains from the boss battle, have ignored looking through it until now, mostly standard stuff, until he came across a shield. "Hm? [Sentinel's Shield]? Did I get a rare drop?" he checked the stats of the item, humming in approval for its high - for the current tier, anyways - defensive stats, especially for an [Iron] based item.

"So shield, perhaps a sword?" he murmured to himself. "Other than the starter sword I don't really have much, going to have to forge one it looks like."

"Munyaaa…" Sayaka yawned.

"Awake? Sayaka?" Tom asked, smirking slightly as she froze.

"Ah? Eh? What?" the groggy black-haired girl looked around her in confusion, before finally resting her eyes on Tom's own.

Tom watched as her eyes slowly widened to comical proportions.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?"

"Ow," Tom muttered as he rubbed his ears from the sonic assault. "I think you walked in your sleep last night."

"B-B-B-B-But I was in a different room…" she stammered. "W-With Asuna-nee…"

"Yeah, I know as much as you do," Tom admitted with a sigh. "Were you having bad dreams last night?"

Sayaka stiffened. "N-N-No I wasn't," she lied, looking away from Ryu.

Tom sighed as he hugged her. "It's alright to have nightmares, especially after what happened yesterday, I'd be more worried if you didn't, Saya," he whispered to her.

"Mugii. How can you know me so well…" Sayaka mumbled, leaning into him, tears once again trailing down her cheeks.

"Ah, you remind me of myself when I was younger, far too compassionate and caring for your own good," he admitted with a deep sigh. "That's why I pushed you so hard to open up to me, Asuna, and Kirito last night, so that you don't bury deep within yourself."

"Um… Tom-san…" Sayaka suddenly whispered. "Is it wrong for me to have kicked… cactus-head there? I've only seen that done in TV shows, and it seems to hurt guys a lot…"

"Ah, he deserved it," Tom told her assuringly. "Besides, pain's muted in the game - for lack of a better term."

"So I should have kicked him another time?" Sayaka asked.

Tom laughed merrily as he shook his head. "Nah, the once was enough… little demon," he added teasingly.

Sayaka suddenly caught Tom in an armbar.

"Gah!" Tom cried out as he was forced down into the bed. "What is this for?" he asked as he experimentally wiggled his body.

"Don't call me a little demon!" Sayaka squawked, tightening the hold.

Tom coughed lightly as he felt two soft globes pressing into him. "Might want to be careful with your… umm… assets," he commented lightly.

"I'm not letting you go that easily! I'm not losing any money from doing this anyway!" the meaning had apparently been lost in translation.

Tom sighed. "Well, so much for the easy - for you - way," he muttered as he began to lift himself, and Sayaka off the bed. "One thing about the armbar, if the target is big enough, they can stand up."

"Mugiii!" Sayaka still held on tight to her position, apparently not having noticed Ryu's arm sandwiched in her bosom.

"Also, with the way your sandwiching my arm, most men would enjoy this," Tom added as an afterthought as he fully stood up, Sayaka somehow continuing to cling to his back while doing the armbar. "Wow, one hell of a grip."

"MUMUMUGIIIGIIIIIII!"

Tom sighed before rolling his eyes. "Well, alright then," he said with a sigh before flexing the arm Sayaka was gripping before suddenly hurling his back to the wall, slamming her up against it. "Going to let go now?"

"Ow!" Sayaka yelped, finally letting go and dropping to the ground with a thud. "Bully! Meanie!"

"Yes, because trying to get out of an armbar is such a dastardly thing to do," Tom drawled sarcastically. "Truly, I am the wellspring of all the world's evils."

"Well, you DID call her a little demon first…" Kirito rolled his eyes, walking into the room. "Your door was unlocked by the way."

"Normally is," Tom pointed out in return. "So, anything special about this floor we should know about?"

"Cows, cows and more cows," Kirito explained. "A few minotaurs here and there… and oh, this floor sells the best-tasting milk among all the floors I've been to."

"Yeah?" Tom asked with a little grin. "Maybe if Sayaka drank enough, she won't be a midget anymore."

A pillow collided with the back of Tom's head.

"You Westerners are just too tall," Kirito pointed out. "Maybe that's why everyone else looks like a midget to you - Sayaka's quite okay for an average Japanese."

"Really? Huh, I'm actually only a bit over average for height," Tom mused with a speculative look before shrugging. "Ah well, least I'm not a midget, like the 'Little Demon' there."

Sayaka retrieved the pillow and jumped up to slam it down on top of Tom's head.

Tom simply smirked as he picked up Sayaka by the scruff of her dress and held her away from his body. "You look like a little kitten, with that glare of yours."

"Hey, hey, don't pick on her or Asuna will…" Kirito paused as a slight pressure on the back of his head alerted him to her presence. "Oh boy."

"Putting down Saya-chan anytime soon, Tom-san…?" Asuna smiled ominously as she stepped into view already clad in her armour and ready to go.

Tom grinned in response. "Well, maybe," he admitted. "It's just so adorable though," he moved Sayaka so that Asuna could see the pouting glare on her face. "See, adorable like a kitten."

Asuna sighed. "Put her down… as cute as she is doing that, it's too pitiful to watch."

"Asuna-nee, Tom-san is bullying me…" Sayaka whimpered, still trying to hit Tom with the pillow.

"Fine, fine I'll set you down," Tom said with a smile as he set her down. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"I guess… grinding?" Kirito scratched his head. "We need to get our levels up - keep them at least 4 or 5 above the rest of the players. With the number of people we have, it might be a little slow-going…"

"Then just kill more," Asuna put forward.

"Simple, but effective," Tom commented as he started equipping his usual gear, although this time he equipped the [Sentinel Shield] and [Iron Longsword]. "Plus it'll give me more time to practice with these."

"Boss drops?" Kirito raised an eyebrow.

"The shield is, yeah" Tom confirmed. "This sword's just a plain starter one, going to forge a custom one."

"I wonder what kind of new gear we can get on this floor?" Sayaka asked, bouncing on her feet as she equipped her usual equipment.

"Who knows, only one way to find out though," Tom said with a shrug before looking around. "Anyone know where Agil is at?"

"Here," Agil yawned as he walked into the room. "What's the commotion about? I heard Sayaka yelling about something."

"Ah, Ryu-san was teasing her," Kirito explained, rubbing the back of his head with a small laugh. "As per usual."

"Mugiii," Sayaka was sulking in a corner of the room.

"We're going to be grinding levels today, might as well explore while we're doing so, right?" Tom asked the others as Agil started equipping his own gear.

"And I'll be happy to buy mapping data from you," Argo made her presence known as she also entered the room uninvited. "Hey guys, nishishishi~"

"So the rat finally showed herself, huh?" Tom asked with a grin. "Looking to join us?"

"Well, this _is_ turning out to be a profitable venture…" Argo grinned. "And selling mapping data is a very lucrative business, I'll have you know."

"Plus, now that we're on the second floor," Tom murmured, his eyes flashing slightly. "You owe us the location of an [Extra Skill]."

"Ah, yes, the Martial Arts skill," Argo nodded. "Well, there are a few good farming spots on the way there, so we might as well."

"Right, shall we get going then?" Asuna asked brightly. "Well, once Saya-chan gets ready that is, unless she plans on fighting in a nightgown?"

Sayaka hurriedly pulled up her menu and fumbled with it. Unfortunately she fumbled a bit too much and ended up unequipping the nightgown as well. "Hyaaa!" she yelped as she quickly equipped her usual armour.

Tom had quickly covered his own and Agil's eyes as soon as he saw the light forming around Sayaka. "Decent now?" he questioned.

"… Did you see…?" Sayaka whispered from somewhere in front of Tom.

"Not a thing," Tom assured, still not taking his hands away. "Neither did the big man here."

"I didn't see anything either," Kirito added.

"Nishishishi~" Argo snickered. "Sacchi, you look as illegal as before…"

"A-Argo-san, don't comment!" Sayaka's voice rang out through the room, accompanied by a thud.

"NOT AGAIN! LET GO!"

"Let's… let's just get going," Agil suggested as he shook his head.

"Agreed," Kirito said. "By the way, Sayaka, you're just proving why people are calling you a little demon…"

"MUGIIIII! Stop calling me a little demon!"

"UGYAAAA! MY ARM!"

Tom sighed. "A part of me is starting to wonder if it was a mistake teaching her grappling," he mused. "And yet another part of me wants to teach her more advanced stuff."

"Don't teach her more advanced stuff! Get her off me!" Argo yelled.

"Teach her more advanced stuff," Kirito turned to Tom with a gleam in his eyes.

"Hey, Sayaka, come on, I'll teach you some advanced maneuvers while we're grinding!" Tom called out.

"Yay!" Sayaka disappeared and reappeared at Tom's side in an instant. "What kind of advanced maneuvers?"

"Y-You can't be serious, Terryu…" Argo groaned as she climbed back to her feet, nursing her abused arm.

"Well, there is the Camel Clutch," Tom commented. "Triangle Choke Hold, so many to choose from."

"You _could_ just stop teasing Saya-chan, Argo-san…" Asuna suggested with a smile.

"Ugh," Argo sagged.

"Also, the Banana Split," Tom continued. "That's just fun because of the name."

"Shall we just get going? You can talk about advanced grappling techniques on the way," Agil suggested, holding the door open.

"Sure," Tom agreed with a nod. "Alright, Sayaka for the Triangle Choke hold the key thing to remember is your leg strength…"

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

* * *

"Christ, I hate this game. Why the hell did my brother con me into playing this thing?" A man walked towards the bar, his rather cheap leather armor serving more as clothing then anything protective, and with a relatively unknown, but very dangerous weapon in a scabbard on his left hip. The weapon was a sword known as a kilij, coming from the 3rd Century AD, lasting and evolving for thousands of years as the weapon of choice for nations like Ottoman Turkey. With a widened, weighted tip, the kilij had more force behind its swings compared to the Japanese sword of fame, which relied more on its sharper edge and speed.

That, in his eyes, made the kilij more dangerous than the katana. But the idiot devs barely knew the weapon EXISTED, let alone how destructive it was. For a one-handed weapon that could, in theory, (and in the past, often DID) take off a horse's head before being used on the unfortunate rider, in this game, it was fairly standardized in terms of damage.

As someone who took realism seriously, that pissed him off. But the kilij was a close-range backup for him. He wasn't wearing leather armor to make a fashion statement, you know.

"I hate my fucking life. Need to get a ranged weapon fast: getting tired of this melee bullshit." He gently opened the door, looking like a 290 pound man that life continually shit on for fun. "Oi, is there a job opening around here? I'm looking for… hmm, what's the correct word? A quest? Nah, that can't be right."

The barkeep looked at him, then shook his head. "Nope, sorry."

He would have begun bitching about the low quality AI, as he used to much older RPGs like _The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim_ , where the barkeeps and innkeepers were the main sources of quest information, and about himself for not seeing the lack of exclamation mark, but he never got the chance, as at that moment, the doors to the bar opened as a small group of four stepped inside. "Alright, we're at Floor 2 now, we need to get to buisness…" the leading figure said, "There are plenty of places where we can rack up XP and Col here, so we should exploit that before too many players move on up here."

He looked at the party that just entered. "Hoi! Care for an extra partner? I'm trying to get up to Floor 25 without getting badly raped."

Jordan glanced at the man, blinking in surprise as he gave him a look, before seeing the weapon. "Hey, is that a kilij?" He asked in surprise, "Geez, that's a rare drop item, where did ya get it?"

"Stabbing a miniboss to death with a dagger." He said, "And I'm happy as a pig in shit to have one of the most destructive sword-class weapons in the game at this point." Not far from the truth, too. Might've been considered a saber-type, but it had a LOT more DPS than any saber. Hence the rarity.

" _Very_ nice," Jordan nodded, "Well, we could always use some extra firepower with these new mobs, and with the whole Death game thing strength in numbers certainly counts." He grinned a bit as he opened his menu. "Consider yourself hired, sending you an invite now. Name's 117Jorn, you?"

He chuckled for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Small world." He said, causing Jordan to blink. "Huh?"

"Ron the True Fan. Pleasure."

Once again, Jordan blinked in surprise "Ron?" He asked, before he began reading, "Ronald Pinkerton! Holy Fucking SHIT! You really are in this game!"

"Not by choice: I was conned by my brother into testing it out for him." Ron said with a groan. "And as soon as this thrice damned tutorial ended, I was TRAPPED HERE. So, yeah, I have a desire to get out of this game without dying."

"You and about every other player here," Jordan said. "Still, its good to have ya here… " he then gestured to the others with him. "These are my friends, Dennis, Lux and Rossa."

Ron nodded in turn to all of them. "Well, now that that issue is out of the way, lead on: I need to get a better weapon, and I think we ALL could use upgrades, no?"

"That we do," Jordan said, before he paused and groaned. "Aw crap, now that you're here I can't quote Alexander Anderson anymore..."

An Irish accent followed a quick laugh and smile as Ron put his hand on the sword. "Well, you know what time it is!" He drew the weapon, putting on his best insane smile. For a second, Jordan though he saw the word 'RAPE' appear in front of him in big white letters.

Jordan shook his head chuckling "Good to have ya aboard, Ron." he said, "Wait till Ryu hears about this. And yes, DKR's here too."

"Figured." He sheathed the sword, losing the smile. "Could be worse. At least Popo isn't here."

* * *

 **Hermit's Home, Second Floor**

* * *

"This is so humiliating," Tom muttered as he glared at a massive boulder he had to break with his bare hands.

The reason for his humiliation?

The three marks on each cheek that looked like whiskers.

"WHAT'S THIS!?" a similarly whiskered Sayaka was attempting to attack the NPC - an old man, but being held back by Asuna.

"In order to remove the whiskers you must complete the task," the NPC told them… for the thirty fifth time, Agil was keeping count apparently. "Those are to ensure the secret techniques are only given to those worthy."

"MUGIIIIIIIII! I DON'T WANT WHISKERS!" Sayaka frantically rubbed at her cheeks trying to get the whiskers off.

"Well, the sooner you clear it, the faster you get it off…" Kirito groaned, walking up to his rock and studying it.

Asuna was hiding behind her own rock in shame.

"Come on Asuna, you've seen ours," Tom groused as he walked up to his rock.

"Why do I have to do this as well?" Asuna groaned, peeking out from behind her rock. "And not Agil?"

"Because I'll never use it," Agil told her. "And I was smart enough not to hit the accept button when I saw Argo's smirk."

"Nishishishi~" Argo just snickered.

Tom rolled his eyes, looking over to Sayaka. "Y'know, seeing you pout with those whiskers is adorable," he told her with a snigger.

"Shut up," Sayaka muttered, shuffling to her own rock as she started pummeling it with her hands.

Each punch barely even registered on the green health bar of the rock as a small nick.

Tom sighed before turning to his own rock, raising his hands into a loose boxing stance as he evened his breathing, relaxed his body and… "HA!" he shouted as his twisted his entire body into the punch he threw, actually doing more than a nick of damage to the rock.

"I'll be waiting for you guys to finish," Agil chuckled, walking over to the fireplace where the NPC had been cooking on and grabbing a mug apparently filled with goat's milk.

"Lazy," Kirito called out as he began working away at his own rock. "Dammit, they're just one step away from immortal status!"

"Haaaah!" Sayaka shouted, copying Tom and putting all of her strength into a palm strike. Another sliver disappeared off the health bar. "MUGIIIIII!"

"Twist your legs into the movement, Sayaka," Tom instructed and he hammered out another blow, he was punching slower than the others, but with more noticeable impact. "Your entire body must move with the punch to get the most out of it."

"Alright…" Sayaka conceded his point and walked over to watch Tom as he punched. "So fast…"

Tom had already demolished 1/16th of the rock's health bar with his slow, methodical strikes.

"No fair!" Kirito groused, joining Sayaka in her Tom-watching.

Tom only grinned in response. "Not my fault I actually trained in real life," he commented before stepping it up with a one-two combo. "Oh wait, it is, so, it's your fault for not doing so."

Asuna had also come out from behind her rock to watch Tom punch the rock, revealing the orange whiskers on her face that matched her hair colour.

"So that's what yours look like," Argo commented with her patented chuckle.

Asuna disappeared behind Kirito, using his shoulder to hide her whiskers.

Tom laughed as he hit the rock again, panting as he stepped back rolling his shoulders as he looked down at his knuckles. "Oh right, they added blood, didn't they?" he questioned as he inspected his now scrapped and slightly bleeding knuckles.

"It's a safe zone though, and we can't take damage at all in safe zones." Kirito pointed out.

Tom quickly checked his health gauge. "No damage done," he pointed out as he pulled out some wrappings from his inventory to cover up his knuckles. "So we're good on that front, anyone else want their knuckles wrapped?"

"I can do it myself…" Sayaka muttered, pulling out her own wrappings.

Tom nodded as he turned back to his rock, switching his stance, his hands hanging loosely to his side as he bounced slightly on his toes before launching a kick at the rock, doing damage. "Hunh," he grunted to himself.

The other three people doing the quest returned to attacking their own rocks, with a much more noticeable effect this time. Agil whistled appreciatively as he sipped on his mug.

"Mmm! I see you already have prior training in Martial Arts!" the NPC suddenly boomed out.

Tom paused as he looked over. "Trained in the basics of Karate, Boxing and some Taekwondo with a theoretical understanding of some others," he explained. "Learned grappling from the Military Basic."

The NPC didn't respond.

"It's a sign you're doing something right, Terryu," the brunette information broker standing off to the side explained with a slightly awed look.

Tom grinned as he turned back to the rock and launched another kick. "Wonder what the full requirements are for that," he commented. "Or if there's a bonus for actually using martial arts."

"400 col," Argo grinned.

"You don't know," Tom challenged. "Do you know martial arts?"

"It's news from NPCs from the beta test," Argo offered. "Take it or leave it, but I will have you know that I don't sell information that I'm not absolutely sure of, nishishishi~"

Tom studied her for a moment before sighing as he opened the trade window and sent her the money.

"Thank you for your patronage, nishishi~" Argo grinned, accepting the money. "Martial arts kills have higher chances of dropping rare equipment. I can understand why - you don't damage armour or weapons with your bare hands like you can with a sword."

Kirito increased the speed and frequency of his strikes after overhearing the information.

Tom nodded as he turned back to the rock. "Y'know, this is actually good training," he commented. "Lets me hit something without it doubling over on me."

"You wouldn't want to do this in real life though…" Asuna pointed out, wringing her hands. "I'm no kung fu expert, but wouldn't doing this normally break a few bones?"

"Unbelievably easily," Tom assured. "I've done it, *bleep*ing dodging prick."

"Well, I'd dodge too if a big meaty fist was coming towards me," Kirito grinned.

"Me too!" Sayaka chirped.

"Bah," Tom scoffed as he hurled another punch, finally getting an eighth of the health bar down. "This… is going to take a while."

"No kidding, buddy," Agil laughed, now enjoying a bowl of piping hot stew. "Keep up the good work!"

Tom glared over at Agil - who was focusing on his stew - before picking up a rock and activated the skill motion for throwing it, bullseyeing the bowl Agil was holding.

"Oh well," Agil shrugged as the bowl shattered into polygons, before grabbing another bowl of stew. "This is pretty good…" he remarked, more to rile up the man than anything.

Tom growled before throwing a spin kick at the rock, actually making it shudder slightly as a chunk of its health depleted.

"Think of it as positive encouragement, Tom," the African-American chuckled. "You're already doing better, aren't you?"

"Tom-san, can I do an armbar on him?" Sayaka asked from her position beside her rock.

"I wonder if the armbar is actually in the game under the Martial Arts skill…" Kirito mused.

Argo shuddered. "Please don't go there, I don't want Sacchi using that on me as a Sword Skill - if you can even call it a Sword Skill without a sword."

"Sayaka," Tom said. "When this is done I'll help you."

Agil put down his bowl of stew. Argo stopped herself from reaching for a bowl. "N-No need to be so hostile, people…" the dark-skinned man attempted to placate the lynch mob.

"You go for the Armbar," Tom strategized with another punch. "I'll use the Ten-Finger Choke."

Agil took a step back. "A-Argo, what does it take to protect you from Tom's wrath?"

"1 million col for that information," Argo muttered under her breath.

"Dammit."

"First thing first, getting rid of these damned whiskers!" Tom roared as he renewed his assault on the rock.

"20 percent discounts on all future purchases from my shop?" Agil offered, his eyes widened at how much damage Tom was doing to the previously demonic rock.

"Thirty," Tom countered. "With first pick of rare gear."

"Hey, you guys getting access to rare gear first kind of comes with the deal - what kind of a friend would I be otherwise?" Agil shrugged, nodding. "Can we make it 25 percent? I _do_ need to make a living ya know."

"Well, that'll get _me_ off your back," Tom allowed. "But not so sure about _her_." he pointed over to Sayaka.

"Rare gear…" Sayaka muttered - no, demanded even as she stared daggers at Agil.

"Same offer," Agil grinned hopefully.

"Fine, rare gear and 25% discount," Sayaka nodded. "I want a katana! There's a katana skill in the game, right? I want one like Sephiroth's!"

"That katana is completely unrealistic," Kirito pointed out. "A real katana made like that would wobble far too much to be really effective."

"Mugyuu."

"But... this isn't reality, is it?" Tom pointed out. "This is the Virtual World."

"Yeah, but it's up to the Cardinal System what kind of weapons get introduced to the game," Kirito explained. "And I don't know any weapons beyond the 10th floor. It's possible a katana that long might appear on the upper floors."

"From what I could see the Blacksmithing [Skill] is actually quite comprehensive, it actually might be possible to forge it when your skill is at a high enough level," Tom commented as he kept punching. "Anything seems to be possible with it."

Sayaka began staring at Tom intently. "Katana," she said.

Tom chuckled. "As soon as I'm finished this, I'll get to work on it," he promised. "Speed-Type?"

"It's useless without the katana skill, Sayaka-san," Kirito sighed.

"Mugyuu."

"I'll make you a wakizashi for the time being." Tom promised her. "Anything from you guys?" he asked the others.

"I'm still fine, my Anneal Blade is the best sword for the early floors," Kirito shook his head.

"I still have my Wind Fleuret," Asuna pointed at the rapier in its sheath by her side.

Tom shrugged. "Well, come to me when you want them improved," he told them. "I'll make them better than ever!"

"I… already have a blacksmith friend I promised to keep visiting for upgrades," Asuna sagged slightly. "I'll introduce you to her when we finish this quest."

"Hey, that's alright, maybe we can find a way to do a joint forging project," Tom waved it off. "Besides, at least I'll be able to keep our gear good in the field."

"Need some endorsement? Nishishishi~" Argo grinned.

"Considering you'd try to gouge from all my profits?" Tom asked rhetorically. "Not from you."

"Nah, I'll just sell information about your blacksmithing services to other players," Argo waved her hand in the air. "It's a win-win, you get more business and I get more money."

"Fine, fine," Tom sighed, glancing up at the rock's health bar. "A fifth of the way, huh, even after all that?"

"A fifth," Argo raised an eyebrow. "That's way faster than I expected."

"Maybe it's because he's actually using the proper technique?" Asuna questioned as she watched Tom's movement. "The damage is proportionate to the proper way it's done?"

"Most likely," Kirito agreed, watching Tom continue punching the rock. "I mean… the NPC _did_ compliment him."

"It's rather impressive to watch actually," Agil commented. "It really drives home his comment about training in a military boot camp."

Sayaka glared daggers at her own rock before copying Tom almost perfectly and unleashing a combo that tore the rock's health bar down another chunk.

"Mmm! I see you already have prior training in Martial Arts!" the NPC commented again.

Sayaka pumped her fist in the air.

"Just like that!" Tom called out. "See if you can keep up with me Sayaka, this is intensive training - follow the leader style!" he launched another combo at the rock, making sure that Sayaka could see each of his moves clearly.

"Right!" Sayaka chirped, following Tom's each and every punch and kick.

* * *

 **That Night**

* * *

"HA!" Tom cried out, throwing his fist in a fierce punch, colliding with his rock, depleting the last remaining bit of its Health, causing it to shatter into glowing fragments as a pop-up screen appeared before him, declaring the successful resolution of the Quest and the unlocking of the [Martial Arts] Extra Skill. "About damned time!"

"Congratulations!" Agil clapped. "Now to wait for the others…"

Sayaka's rock only had about a quarter of its health bar left. Kirito and Asuna weren't too far behind.

"Mugyuu."

"You can do it, Sayaka," Tom told her as he sat down nearby to keep an eye on her. "Loosen up your stance a bit, you can't hit as hard when your muscles are so tense."

"I'm hungry," she grumbled, turning to look at the pot of stew longingly.

"Why don't we take a break then," Tom said with a firm nod. "Hunger is an enemy we must be wary of, after all."

"I'm fine, I'll keep on going," Kirito insisted, continuing to demolish his rock. "This kind of virtual hunger is nothing."

Tom sighed as he picked up a pebble and threw it at Kirito, knocking it against his head. "Come on pretty boy, you need to take care of your mind," he told him seriously. "If your mind is weak, then you will cause yourself more trouble."

"He's right, Kirito-kun," Asuna said, walking up to Kirito's side. "Remember that state I was in when you first met me on the previous floor?"

"Ugh, fine," Kirito relented, stepping away from his rock.

Tom had a victorious smirk on his face at the teen's submission before he joined them in walking over to the pot with the stew, joining Agil and Argo. "Glad we don't have to worry about muscles," he commented as he picked up a bowl of stew. "Mine would be killing me right now if I had them."

"I'm worried about our real bodies though," Asuna sighed, taking a seat beside the black-coated swordsman. "With all that's going on, I hope they're being taken care of…"

"I'm sure they're being taken care of just fine," Agil informed assuringly. "There were some fainting spells with a lot of people a short while after Kayaba made his announcement, they were probably being transferred to a hospital."

"That happened to me," Tom admitted. "Thankfully we were in a safe zone."

"I don't think Kayaba Akihiko would've killed off people just for doing that…" Kirito scratched his scalp as he grabbed a bowl of stew too. "I'd say the ones that were out in the fields when it happened were probably ignored by the monsters."

"I hope so," Asuna murmured quietly, holding her own bowl tightly.

"What's in this stew anyway?" Sayaka poked at her own bowl with her spoon. "It's actually quite good…"

"Beef from the local wildlife and herbs picked from around the mountain!" the NPC replied with a hearty laugh. "Good for your spirits, no? I can give you the recipe if you'd like!"

"Yes please!" Tom and Asuna responded in unison, their eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Very well!" the NPC boomed as he opened up two trade windows, one for Tom and one for Asuna. Each one had a copy of the recipe inside. "It has been enlightening seeing people who share the same interest in the power of your own body like me!"

"He must really like you," Argo commented with a raised eyebrow.

Tom grinned as he flexed his arm, patting his bicep. "Even if we don't exchange them, men can understand one another through their fists," he declared proudly.

"He's an NPC…" Sayaka muttered, idly sipping at her stew.

"Spoilsport," Tom pouted before returning to his stew, looking over the recipe as he did so.

"So, how are you doing with the Sword/Shield combo, Ryu?" Kirito asked the Canadian who looked up.

"Pretty well actually," Tom admitted. "Just need to get adjusted to the weight balance, the shield was offsetting my balance somewhat at first."

"In the end I still prefer just using one sword with no shield," Kirito rested a hand on the grip of the sword on his back. "Shields just aren't for me."

"A shield would get in the way of my rapier too," Asuna agreed. "With my build being centered around speed anyway, it just wouldn't work for me."

Tom chuckled as he rolled his shoulders. "Well, worse comes to worse, I can just drop the sword and shield and start doing some bare knuckle boxing," he said jokingly, throwing a few light half-hearted punches.

"I don't think it'll be a good idea against the monster-type bosses on the upper floors…" Kirito pointed out.

"I'm trying to imagine Tom-san karate chopping a dragon…" Sayaka muttered, trying to form a proper image.

There was a moment of silence before almost everyone let out a bark of laughter simultaneously at the thought.

Tom held his sides as he tried to keep his stew from spilling. "Oh, that's a good one!" he chuckled. "I'm more likely to break my hand than the Dragon!"

"And you'd probably make the dragon mad!" Kirito laughed.

"Hmm, Dragon Chow, not exactly what _I_ want to be in life," Tom sighed with mock contemplation. "The benefits are just terrible, and have you _seen_ their retirement package?"

"I thought the retirement package was just ending up in a pile of dung somewhere," Agil chuckled.

"Exactly," Tom nodded sagely. "And the pay is complete crap to, acidic stomach acid, no thank you."

Sayaka's face turned green as she pushed away her bowl of stew.

Tom laughed at her reaction. "Sorry, sorry," he apologised to her, a grin still on his face. "Guess I need to reign in my mouth even more."

"Apology not serious enough," Sayaka folded her arms crossly.

Tom chuckled in response. "Yeah, I have a foot in mouth diseases," he informed. "It's kinda fun to be honest."

"Mugyuu."

The group shared a small laugh at Sayaka's petulant pout. "Ready to keep going on the rock, Sayaka?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'll keep on going. The less time we spend here the better," Sayaka stood up and stretched a bit before turning towards her rock.

Tom smiled as he stood up to join her, keeping an eye on her stance and movement to point out corrections to be made. "Those two are quite the interesting pair," Agil commented, watching them.

"Nishishishi~" Argo nodded with a smirk. "Are you seeing the sparks I'm seeing?"

"Nah, couldn't be," Kirito commented in an oblivious manner, before blinking. "Could it?"

"The two of them are pretty far apart in terms of age…" Asuna muttered.

"But… he was there for her from the beginning, right?" Kirito asked for clarification. "I know for myself, the first few days were pretty intense emotionally…"

"I saw them together on the second day, and they were already stuck together like glue," Argo shed some light on the issue. "Well, I guess all we can do is wait and see how it turns out."

At that point, Tom physically held on to Sayaka to demonstrate to her a proper technique for punching.

"She's blushing," Agil observed.

"Well, any girl would blush at that," Asuna defended quickly. "Although… she looks like she's sort of enjoying it."

"Potential's definitely there," Kirito nodded.

"The question is: do we interfere, or assist?" Agil asked. "Or do nothing at all?"

"She's not even looking at the harassment warning…" Kirito noted.

"Well… maybe we should help them?" Asuna chuckled, a light tinkling laughter that had Kirito immediately snap his eyes to her instead. "It might be a good idea to see something like this blossom in this death game."

"Nishishishi~" Argo chuckled, a wide grin adorning her face. "Does the Onee-sama have an idea?"

"Not right now, but we'll see if any chances pop up in the future," Asuna winked.

"We may not even need to do much," Kirito commented, pointing at the pair, who seemed to be in a near intimate embrace as Tom showed Sayaka the proper stance for a side-kick.

"Aw, but we can at least push it along a little faster, right?" the brunette beauty beside him smiled.

Kirito coughed with a blush as he scratched at his cheek. "I wasn't saying that," he defended. "Of course we help them along."

"It seems a bit more than that needs helping along… Nishishishi~" Argo whispered to Agil.

Agil chuckled quietly in agreement. "We may need to do something for those two as well," he murmured quietly.

* * *

 **Jorn, Ron, Dennis, this is you guys**

* * *

"Alright, we've got quite a day ahead of us." Jordan said, as he led the party outside the local town. "Before we take down the next boss, we all need to level up to a minimum of level 20. It's always recommended when taking on floor bosses, that your ten levels higher than the floor you're on to maximize chances to succeed."

"Grinding," Ron said, nodding. "I'm fairly good at that. It's a mostly a thing that requires a mindset, rather than equipment. Focus on your goal, ignore the distractions, and tear the assholes a new hole."

"Doesn't it seem a bit excessive?" Dennis asked, but Jordan shook his head.

"We needed to be level 11 just to take down the _first_ boss, Dennis." he stated, "And now we can confirm Kayaba has changed features _of_ the bosses, so we can't be too careful when dealing with them. Preferably, we'll launch a raiding party first to scout out the boss first, and fall back when we gather as much data as we can before we bring in the cavalry for the boss clearing."

"My stats are more for long-range and hit-and-run anyways. I'll volunteer for the run."

"Huh?"

"I'm planning to spec for archery, not CQC. I prefer being out of melee range and inside I-kill-you-with-many-many-pointy-arrows range. It's just that I'm stuck with just this sword for now since there aren't any damned bows."

"Hmm, same here, but that'll only work when we get bow and arrows." Jordan said, "They haven't implemented them into the game yet, but it's entirely possible the Cardinal System may add it later on." He pulled out his throwing knives "For now, the most long-range weapon we have are these."

"And my javelins." Dennis said as he spinned one of the yellow double pointed projectiles.

"Oh yeah forgot about that. Anyway before Kayaba most likely changed it the boss in this floor was a bigger than usual minotaur with a poison ax and can do charge attacks after one health bar is gone." Jordan said as the grouped now walked over the tall yellow grass field that touched their legs.

"Well that's going to be a pain in the ass. At least we got Ross and her potions." Dennis said

"First we need to get the ingredients for the antidote. What kind of poison was it Jordan?"

"Typical health and stamina poison that stops after fifteen seconds. Might good to stock some paralysis antidotes just in case that was changed."

"F(beep) perfect! Paralysis poison" Dennis said annoyed

"Shouldn't bee too hard to get the ingredients for the first one but I might need to buy a couple of it for the paralysis from the npcs. Those ingredients are uncommon. So apart from charge is the boss a slow tank type?"

"Hmmm not really but you and lux should be able to outmaneuver it and attack its blind spots. But be warned the ax puts quite a punch"

"Well that shouldn't bee too hard to avoid for me. Just need to invest more on my speed and I could practically flash step the guy." Lux said confidently

"That is if he doesn't squash you like a cockroach." Dennis said causing Lux to be annoyed causing him to smile

"Do you always have to be such a rough prick sometimes Dennis?" Jordan said after he sighed

"Damn straight and you know you love me for doing it" Dennis said smugly

"Heh after ten years with your hairy ass, I guess I'm used to it sometimes"

"Wait ten years you two have been together!?" Lux said with a surprised look

"Yep, we are childhood friends from middle school and live close by. Anyway where's the damn enemies so we can farm them." Dennis said as he scanned the area

"Right… there." Jordan said, pointing towards the north where several Minotaurs wielding axes were standing, docile at the moment as if waiting for players to come by to initiate combat. "Just follow my lead ladies and gents!"

* * *

 **Second Floor, Dungeon**

* * *

"I know you said this was a Bovine-themed floor," Tom called out to Kirito as he blocked a warhammer being swung by a Minotaur based enemy. "But _only_ cows and bulls, really?"

"Yup," Kirito nodded, parrying a blow so that it slid off to the side and smashed harmlessly into the ground. "Well, Sayaka seems to be having a good time…"

"Leather! Leather! Drop more leather! You'll be my next set of armour!"

Tom sweat dropped. "Is it bad that she's cackling like an evil overlord?" he asked skeptically.

"It's all because you guys insisted on calling her a little demon…" Asuna muttered under her breath, dashing in to switch with Kirito for a perfect Linear right into the Minotaur's neck, killing it.

Agil grunted as he blocked an attack from another monster. "She'll become a demon queen at this rate," he muttered before pushing back the monster and filling it with a powerful blow.

"Not enough leather!" Sayaka used [Sprint] to close to distance on another Minotaur, lashing out with her wakizashi and cutting its hamstring as she passed it before leaping high into the air, backflipping and landing on its shoulders. A two-handed downwards stab put enough force into her weapon to jam it into the base of its neck, taking off half its health. Another stab shattered it into polygons.

"Is it just me… or are her kills getting more and more brutal?" Even Kirito felt a bit of sympathy for the poor Minotaur that the black-haired girl had savaged.

"It's not just you," Tom muttered quietly so that only the black haired teen could hear him. "I'm pretty sure she's suffering from PTSD."

"Then… is it okay for her to still be out here fighting?" Kirito turned to look at the girl, who had engaged another Minotaur by herself and was apparently trying to kill it by hacking away at its neck.

"I… I don't know," Tom admitted. "But… I'd rather her be fighting near me than on her own, at least here I can keep an eye on her and keep her somewhat stable, until she can get real help."

"Hawawa, she's getting rather violent, isn't she?" Argo appeared to be a little unsettled by the ferocity of the younger girl. "I mean, I use claws but my kills are nowhere near as brutal as hers…"

"It's a defense mechanism," Agil guessed. "In response to her fears."

"Well, it's a scary defense mechanism," Argo muttered, staring at Sayaka.

Tom opened his mouth to commented before his eyes caught something causing him to surge forward, placing himself to Sayaka's back, using his shield to block a smallish centauric cow creature who was attempting to attack Sayaka from behind. "And this, Sayaka, is why you don't charge ahead," he scolded the teen lightly as he pushed the spear away from him.

"Oh," Sayaka just blinked as she finished beheading another Minotaur. "These guys drop some really weird armour…"

"Hm?" Tom responded distractedly as he slashed the centauric cow almost completely in half, spraying virtual blood everywhere before it shattered into pixels.

Sayaka materialized and held up a piece of armour that seemed to have more in common with bondage equipment than real armour that the Minotaur she defeated had been wearing. It was basically a pair of rings connected with four belts in an X-pattern.

Tom stared at the piece of equipment before, completely unbidden mind you, an image of Sayaka wearing said piece flashed through his mind causing his nose to begin to bleed. "Ah, *bleep*!" Tom cursed as he held a hand to his nose, pinching off the blood flow. "Really Kayaba you sick *bleep*? Really?"

"Y-You just imagined me wearing it, didn't you?" Sayaka took a step back, a blush adorning her cheeks.

"Honestly… yes," Tom admitted, causing her to glare - although it was more cute than menacing with the deep red blush on her face. "But what else did you expect when you hold something like that up?"

"Men," Sayaka muttered as she put the not-really-armour back into her inventory and scurried off towards another Minotaur that had just respawned.

"That I am," Tom nodded as he moved after her, before muttering to himself. "Why the hell did that pop in there like that?"

Kirito blinked several times as he looked away from the duo. "It's got quite good stats though…" he muttered, checking his inventory.

"Kayaba Akihiko is a sick, sick person…" Asuna folded her arms with an indignant harrumph. "You better not put it on…"

"That blush of yours says otherwise, Aa-chan," Argo said, seeing Asuna's face light up with a red blush. "Nishishishi~ you just pictured him in it, didn't you?"

"I-I-I can't help it when he says things like that!" Asuna grumbled, hurriedly changing the subject, "Come on, the Minotaurs are respawning!"

Agil sighed as the embarrassed teens rushed off. "Teenage hormones," he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he prepared his large, double headed axe. "I thought at least Ryu'd be above them…"

"I'll need to check the fit by myself later on…" Sayaka muttered to herself. "The stats are too good to let it go to waste…"

"What's that?" Tom asked distractedly as he held a defensive stance against a pair of Minotaurs.

"Nothing! And stop fantasizing about me!" Sayaka shouted at Tom, even as she [Sprinted] out on a wide path past the Minotaurs, employing her hamstringing technique to temporarily immobilize them.

Tom took advantage of their immobilized state togo on the offensive as he began slashing at them with his sword. "You know what's bull*bleep*?" he called out as he attacked. "I can't *bleep*ing use my *bleep*ing shield to bash these *bleep*ing *bleep*s heads in!"

"You don't need a Sword Skill to do that, right?" Sayaka pointed out.

Tom growled before suddenly making a wide swing with his shield, impacting it against a charging Minotaur's head, inflicting damage and stunning it long enough for him to follow up with a [Slant] Skill. "Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!" he shouted joyfully, looking to be a bit… macabre covered in blood.

"Just because there's no Sword Skill for it doesn't mean you can't do it!" Sayaka shouted, suddenly using Tom as a springboard to jump up past the Minotaur's head, grabbing hold of its horns as she did so. With a pull with her full STR put into it, she yanked the creature backwards and made it fall over on its back. "Switch!"

"Oryaa!" Tom roared as he leapt into the air over the fallen Minotaur and dropped down on it, driving his sword straight between its eyes. "Get up after that!"

"Physics engine and STR stat abuse," Kirito commented.

"You're just angry you never thought of it," Agil countered with grin. "Mr. Solo Player."

Kirito let out a disgruntled sigh and executed a particularly powerful [Horizontal] into a Minotaur.

"Is it just me, or are the mobs… learning?" Asuna asked in frustration as a Minotaur dodged her [Linear]. "Because it's almost like they're anticipating our tactics."

"It's the game's AI. Monsters will learn attack patterns if you repeat them too much," Kirito explained, stepping in to ward off the swing that would have hit Asuna if he hadn't deflected it.

"That's… troubling," Asuna said with a sweatdrop, after all, she loved to spam the [Linear] skill like no tomorrow.

"Switch it up a bit more and you'll probably have more success," Kirito encouraged. "Just mix in a few other Sword Skills."

Asuna nodded as she switched her stance and triggered the [Rapier Skill] [Sweep] causing her to duck low and swipe twice at a Minotaur's feet, immobilizing it for a moment before using the [Penetrate] skill to finish it off.

"Like that," Kirito nodded approvingly. "You've come a long way for someone who's never played a video game before."

Asuna blushed slightly at the compliment, tugging on the hood of her cloak somewhat in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. "Well, I kind of had to, didn't I?" she said defensively.

Kirito chuckled and patted her back. "Keep up the good work, newbie-san."

Asuna glared at him and sniffed a little. "I guess someone doesn't want the sandwiches I brought along," she declared haughtily.

"EHHHHH!? Since when did you take up the [Cooking] skill?" Kirito stared incredulously at Asuna.

Asuna gave him a smug grin. "Since learning the [Martial Arts] skill," she answered. "Remember, Ryu-san and I got that stew recipe?"

"Now you're just making me hungry," Kirito grumbled.

Asuna giggled with a cheeky smile. "You're going to have to earn back your right to have some of my homemade sandwiches," she told him teasingly as she stabbed a Minotaur several times.

Kirito stared after a charging Asuna dumbly, before turning to Argo. "You're corrupting her," he accused.

"And loving every minute of it," Argo confirmed with a large grin on her face. "She was so pure… so innocent… and now look at her."

"Am I the only sane one?" Agil asked himself quietly. "Kirito's a loner trying to adjust, Argo's a sneak who tries to scam people out of money, Asuna's starting to slide into Imperial territory, Sayaka's…" he trailed off as Sayaka kicked a Minotaur in the nutsack before beheading it. "That… and Ryu… he's Canadian, enough said there."

"If you want my honest analysis, that'll cost you 10 col. Nishishishi~" Argo snickered.

"Like I said, scammer," Agil said with a sage-like nod.

"Ruining my reputation," Argo fired back cheekily. "I sell only the truth, therefore I don't scam people. Nishishishi~"

"Yeah, sell at inflated prices is more like it," Agil grunted as he used his large strength stat to throw back a Minotaur long enough for the information broker to close in with her claws and finish off the Minotaur. "Seriously, you gypped Kirito 500 col for one of your _free_ guides."

"It wasn't free at the time," Argo waved a hand in the air dismissively. "It cost me money to get information for those guides, you know."

"So you get your cost returns from your friends, huh?" Agil said pointedly as he shook his head.

"If you want to know, that'll be 100 col," Argo laughed.

"Exactly," Agil said with a heavy sigh. "So, you think those four are going to form a [Guild] when they come available?"

"Oh, most definitely," Argo agreed. "I can see it, Kii-bou being the reluctant, if effective leader running front-line DPS, Terryu the staunch, unmoving tank of steel, Aa-chan and Sacchan running support interference with their speed…"

"And interesting front-line team for sure," Agil agreed with a nod. "They'll be big."

"I can't join a guild though," Argo shook her head. "An information broker can't be seen as biased or I'll lose my business."

"I might, since I'll be opening a shop. It actually might help business if I'm a part of a major guild," Agil mused.

"So you want to invest in them," Argo whistled. "Well, not a bad choice. Guilds open up for creation on the third floor. You need to complete a quest to make one, but it shouldn't be too hard with the people we have here."

"Question is, do they want to create a guild?" Agil asked speculatively. "After all, when you're in a guild, you have a tendency to draw people towards you."

"Just leave it up to them to decide if they want to make a guild or just stay as a regular party," Argo shrugged. "The choice is up to them."

"I suppose you're right," Agil said with a sigh.

"Hey, Agil! Argo! You guys alright?" Tom called out looking over his shoulder. "You guys are falling behind!"

"Best get in some grinding before we fall behind," Agil hefted his axe and charged towards another Minotaur.

"Yup~" Argo agreed with a chirp as she prepared her claws. "Bet I can kill more than you!"

"Says the lowest-levelled midget in the group," Agil chuckled, sending a Minotaur flying with a swing of his axe. "Catch up if you can!"

* * *

 **With Jordan's party**

* * *

"DECAPITATION!" Jordan shouted as he cleaved the head of a Minotaur clean off, in a far more… brutal display thanks to the latest update. "Yup - they were TOTALLY going for the M-rating all along. Makes ya wonder what the next update'll be."

Ron's heavy kilij tore off the legs of another minotaur before he shoved the blade into its' head. "Well, now that that's over with..." He withdrew the blade as the other enemies began backing off. "how about we go back to my place for a bowl of my favorite cer-" The minotaurs fled as soon as they were able. "Son of a protestant whore! Well, you know what time it is!" The Canadian pulled out his dagger, and Jordan swore on all things holy that he saw the 'RAPE' sign again.

"How are you DOING that?!"

"Do what?"

"…never mind…"

Ron smiled his best Glasgow smile as he charged at the enemy, screaming as he did so.

"Ron's… pretty strange." Lux admitted as she walked up with Jordan, along with Dennis and Rossa.

"Nah, this is pretty tame in comparison to other games I've played with him in." Jordan said chuckling, "We used to play Star Trek Online before Nerve Gear became widely used… god that game was fun. Me in my Scimitar Warbird, Ron in his Oddy Battleship… good times, gooood times..."

"Yeah, and I remember Ryu getting angry at how much you kept playing it instead of writing fics..." Dennis said, with a chuckle as Jordan shot him a glare.

"Ha-ha, very funny… " Jordan said, rolling his eyes before he saw Ron deal a critical blow on one of the Minotaurs. "Come on, can't let him take all the glory, and it takes time for these guys to respawn."

"DIE! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Ron stopped hacking at one of the minotaurs just as it disappeared, grinning like a fool. "Now you understand what happens when you trifle with a Canadian!" The grin faltered as he thought about something. "You know, you're a lot smaller than I imagined..." The grin disappeared. "You ARE smaller. That means... there are more of you." At that moment, Ron started going mad. "THERE ARE MORE OF YOU!"

"Oh sure, _Ron_ can make all the references he wants…" Jordan said, rolling his eyes. "Save it for the Insect Level, Ron! Switch!"

Jordan leaped over Ron as another Minotaur charged at them, as he raised his two throwing knives to intercept the axe swing of the Minotaur. "Dennis!" He shouted, before Dennis came charging forward, shield raised before he bashed into the side of the Minotaur, with the sound of several 'cracks' indicating broken bones, before Rossa and Lux rushed in, and stabbed the beast in the head, effectively putting it out of its misery as it vanished.

"At least… I can pull off the lines because no one bothers to watch the good stuff nowadays," Ron said, as the Canadian sheathed his kilij before walking away, continuing to think up plans for his future weapon of long ranged destruction. And maybe upgrading to a better kilij: getting one made for him, perhaps.

"The minute I'm getting out of this game, I'm throwing this *Bleep*ing helmet on my head at my brother, THEN beating the *Bleep* out of him for putting me in this *Bleep*ing game."

Dennis sighed. "They need to take out the *Bleep*ing censorship…" he muttered. "We've got blood and gore, might as well throw in strong language by now."

"Well, there ARE kids playing this game too before *bleep* hit the fan," Rossa said, shrugging. "Protecting virgin ears anyone?"

Dennis gave Rossa a blank look. "We're in a death game where if we die here, we die in real life," he said, "and you're worried about some random kids learning a swear word of two?"

"Just saying!" Rossa said, raising her hands in defense. "If they survive this mess, at the very least they won't turn into a bunch of pottymouthed pre-teens."

"…you need to reevaluate your priorities, Rossa-chan." Lux said, shaking her head.

"I'd slit my OWN throat to get out if it wouldn't kill me," Ron growled. "I've got better things to do than play VR bull*Bleep*. I've watched .Hack and studied just about everything involving this *Bleep*ed subject: it never ends well. Maybe I should make HIM get into the game, then shove him off a cliff. Sweet revenge, if it weren't murder."

"Oh come on, VR isn't that bad - this is mostly just Kayaba's fault." Jordan said, "Plus, this wouldn't be problem to begin with if they made more of those Mark-II Nerve Gear's which provides a set limit on microwave distribution, impossible to change remotely. And besides… you can't argue that, aside from the dying part… the game's pretty damn cool!"

Ron said nothing. But when he heard a scream in the distance, he got up and started walking. Followed by him screaming bloody murder. They weren't entirely sure until they heard something screaming in pain following by disturbing laughter. "GET BACK HERE! RONNIE WANTS TO PLAY! _**WITH YOUR INSIDES**_!"

"…and you say this guy is your friend?" Rossa asked, as Jordan shrugged.

"First time I've met him in person… well, in VR at least." He said, "This is actually pretty tame compared to how I thought he'd be."

"What do you mean?"

"When we get out of here, read his fanfics - you'll see what I mean."

* * *

 **One Week Later - Urbus**

* * *

"Alright, everyone's here," Tom said as he looked over the party, currently gathered around a table in a rented room, a map splayed out on the table showing their currently mapped data for the floor. "So, this is what we've got so far, we know from the Beta, thank you for getting this, Argo," he directed to the info broker who grinned and nodded. "The Field Boss is in this area here," he pointed to an unmapped area. "And that the dungeon with the boss in it is directly behind it."

"So we can't get into the dungeon without killing the Field Boss?" Sayaka asked, studying the area.

"Yeah, looks like it," Kirito commented. "But, even if we could get past the Field Boss, the Floor Boss won't spawn and the door to the boss room won't open."

"There wasn't a Field Boss on the 1st floor…" Asuna observed.

"The 1st floor is basically one giant tutorial level," Argo explained. "To let people get used to [Sword Skills] and being in a VRMMO, the 2nd floor gets us used to fighting on differing terrain, remember fighting on that cliff?"

"I stubbed my toe on a rock in the middle of combat," Sayaka grumbled, folding her arms.

"So, anything in particular about the Field Boss we should know?" Agil asked curiously,

"The [Bulbous Bow]," Kirito answered. "His weakpoint is a large… well… pimple? on his forehead, but he's a _very_ big cow."

"How big?" Agil asked, cradling his axe.

"Big enough he could feed Japan hamburgers for weeks," Kirito said, half jokingly, half serious.

"So… he's five stories tall or something like that?" Sayaka raised an eyebrow even as she took a small step back.

"Something like that," Kirito agreed. "There's also a bunch of bees as adds, they're annoying to hit too."

"Bees…" Sayaka ducked behind Tom.

"Something wrong, Sayaka?" Tom asked in confusion, feeling Sayaka's hands clench his shirt tightly.

"I don't like bees," the girl muttered.

"Ah," Tom responded. "Well… think about it as if your getting revenge for years of fear?"

Sayaka paused for a moment. "Maybe," she conceded.

"So, in order to reach the Boss' weak point we need to either get to _its_ level, or bring it down to ours," Agil summarized. "And all with only knives as ranged weapons."

"Cut the legs off," Sayaka smiled.

"Seems like the best choice," Kirito agreed. "So, that should be a job for me and Agil - if we can get the raid group to agree that is - as we have the highest STR stat in the party, we should also have Ryu leading a group of Shield Tanks to keep the boss still long enough."

"Getting the raid group to agree would be the hard part, Kii-bou," Argo pointed out, folding her arms. "The other two major groups forming up to tackle the boss don't seem to be getting along that well. The Aincrad Liberation Squad and Dragon Knights Brigade have been at loggerheads since the clearing of the 1st floor."

"Setting names for themselves before Guilds are even activated," Tom muttered with a sigh. "Troublesome people… what would you say would be the minimum for the people needed to beat the Field Boss?"

"I'd advise a minimum of 3 parties," Argo said. "There's also an up-and-coming group called Legend Braves that seems to be more agreeable than the rest."

"I know the leader of another group," Tom announced. "So, if those two are being belligerent about working together, we can just cut them out completely."

"Then we already have three parties," the whiskered information broker smiled. "I'll put you in touch with the Legend Braves."

Tom nodded. "I'll send a message to my friend then," he agreed. "Anything else?"

"There may be other changes to the bosses that the beta testers are unaware of," Argo gritted her teeth at the memory of the first boss fight. "Be careful."

"Understood!" Asuna said with a grin, giving a faux salute. "We will be ready for anything!"

"Have the Legend Braves meet us at the… [Bull Cafe]," Tom said to Argo as he closed his message window. "I just messaged my friend to meet us there for the Field Boss."

"Bull, huh? That's quite appropriate, nishishishi~" Argo giggled. "Alright, sending it out."

"Right, any last minute gear needed?" Kirito asked the group as they started equipping their gear. "Everyone have their blood potions?"

"Umm, give me a moment…" Sayaka muttered, pulling up her inventory and hesitating for a moment before swapping out into a completely new set of armour she had made using all the materials she had gotten from their dungeon crawling earlier.

She was now clad in a top that consisted of what seemed to be a black band of leather going around her chest and back, converging on a metal ring right over her chest. Over that, she wore a half-jacket cut to her midriff. A knee-length skirt, gloves and boots completed the dark ensemble.

Tom blinked several times, his cheeks turning red slightly before coughing. "Interesting outfit," he managed to get out.

"I… It's a bit more revealing than I thought…" Sayaka flushed, pulling her jacket closer although it didn't quite do much due to her… bulk.

"Still… looks… nice on you," Tom said after taking a moment to gather himself together.

"You're just looking at my breasts, aren't you?" Sayaka muttered with a furious blush. The outfit didn't actually provide much coverage on that side, revealing much of her cleavage.

Tom coughed, his eyes moving to places that weren't her body. "Definitely not," he assured honestly, his eyes meeting hers. "I ain't like that."

"Pervert," Sayaka whispered, turning her back towards Tom.

Tom sighed as he composed himself and walked up next to her. "Sayaka, you know I don't mean it like that, alright," he assured her. "You're a beautiful young girl, and someday, some guy - or girl, not judging - will be lucky to have you."

Sayaka was shaking slightly.

Tom blinked. "Something wrong?" he asked cautiously.

A snort of laughter escaped Sayaka's mouth.

"What?" Tom asked suspiciously. "What's so funny?"

"I was just joking when I called you a pervert, Tom-kun," Sayaka giggled. "I didn't think you'd take it so seriously!"

Tom glowered at her before he suddenly pinched her exposed midriff. "Tease," he muttered after she 'eep'ed from the pinch.

"She called him -kun," Asuna narrowed her eyes.

"Asuna?" Kirito questioned, looking at the brunette with confused eyes.

"She switched to using -kun instead of -san," Asuna pointed out.

"Oh?" Kirito replied unconcerned before his eyes widened. " _Oh_ … you think… she… and him?"

"But really, Tom-kun, it's a nice… compliment," Sayaka fidgeted for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck, and pulling herself up to plant a small kiss on his cheek. "This is… how you express thanks in Western culture, right?" she asked with a furious blush.

Tom blinked several times, attempting to start speaking several times only to stop before nodding dumbly. "Uhh… yeah..."

"That would probably be in France, not Canada," Argo pointed out with a smirk.

"Happens sometimes," Tom clarified automatically, still in his dumbfounded state. "Particularly around Quebec and Ontario between friends…"

"I think you broke him, Sayaka-san," Kirito couldn't help the smile spreading across his face.

"Nishishishi~" Argo chuckled. "This can make me quite a bit of Col…"

"Mugi."

"GYAAAAAH! NOT AGAIN! STOP DOING THAT TO ME!"

"Sayaka, watch the placement of your right arm," Tom said automatically, still out of it. "Bring it closer to the spine to prevent movement of the upper body."

"SHOW SOME CONCERN FOR YOUR INFORMATION BROKER! HAWAWAWAWA!"

"Well, you _were_ asking for it again…" Asuna sighed. "This makes it the… how many times has this happened already?"

"Exactly 8 times," Kirito supplied helpfully, trying not to look at Sayaka.

"Man, Ryu's really out of it," Agil commented looking at the Canadian. "And here I thought he was the 'been there done that' kind of guy."

"Come on, we still have a meeting to go to…" Kirito groaned.

"HAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA!"

It didn't seem like they were going to get to the meeting anytime soon.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - Jordan's group**

 **Forest Area**

* * *

"Bip! Bop! Bamb!" Jordan shouted, throwing three knives in quick succession as he quickly downed several large bees patrolling the forest, the oversized - yet weak - insects were easy kills as each knife killed one. "Ya know, I wonder if they'll keep the insect floor… "

"I-Insect floor?" Rossa asked, after having killed a Dire wolf. "There… there was an Insect floor?"

"Yeah… if memory serves me right, I think it's the fifth level… or fourth." Jordan said shrugging as he counted up the loot he had aquired. "I think floor four might've been a slug level… so I guess both kinda count as bug levels."

Rossa shivered, "Oh, no bugs… no bugs..." she muttered, shaking her head.

"Oh, please. Real-life insects are nigh-harmless. I'd love to have a Meganeura or an Arthlopurla lurking around. Maybe a supersized Brontoscorpio or two."

"Except for wasps and hornets. They're c(beep) that deserve a molotov cocktail. The tarantula wasp and giant japanese hornets scare the crap out of me because of their size and sting along with its swarms." Dennis said as he shivered the thought before killing the bees erratically when they were trying to surrounded.

"GOD FU(Beep) DAMMIT BEES! I just got over my fear of them a couple of years ago!" Dennis said as he kept slashing.

Jordan was about to say something, before his menu opened, indicating he just got a message, titled under 'DKR'. "One second, gotta answer this." He said, as he opened the message window.

' _Jorn, Field Boss is located, my group and another Party, the Legend Braves, are going to be joining forces to deal with it before the 'Liberation Army' and 'Dragon Knight's Brigade' get their heads too far up their asses, we've got a doable plan, just need a group to deal with adds, your party in?_ '

Jordan smirked a bit. ' _Bout damn time._ ' he thought before he accessed the messaging system.

' _Ryu, we're in. We've been upping our levels since we got here, we're all close to 20 now. Just tell us where to meet, and we'll be there._ ' He typed in, before he hit the 'send' icon. "Alright boys!" He said as he sat up, drawing the others attention. "Let's get moving! Ryu's ID'd the Field Boss preceding the floor boss, and he's rallying us and another party to take it down! Split up the potions and necessities… we're going hunting."

"Hunting what? Vampires? Leprechauns?" Ron stopped for a second and cupped his chin. "Do you think if I gutted one with me knife, it would spill out Lucky Charms?!"

* * *

 **Urbus - [Bull Cafe]**

* * *

Tom sighed as he sipped his drink. "Huh… think it's finally settling in."

"What is?" Kirito asked in confusion as he looked over the the Canadian.

"We're about to take on a Boss with the _bare_ minimum," he answered. "Think about it, only _three_ parties against a boss that would normally take a raid group to do."

"That's… huh," Kirito responded, at a loss for words. "Well, we got the proper plan for us, our levels are solid, and our gear is the best we can get right now, so I think we're good."

"I hope so," Tom muttered with a sigh.

"At least they got green tea right," Sayaka muttered, happily sipping away at her own mug.

Tom chuckled as he sipped his coffee. "I just wish they had a Tim Hortons here," he sighed in a depressed manner. "That and Bacon, I have yet to find bacon."

"What's Tim Hortons?" Asuna asked, unfamiliar with the name.

"Coffee store from Canada," Ryu explained. "95% of Canadians swear by their coffee."

"What does coffee taste like?" Sayaka asked, leaning in to look at Tom's cup.

"It's bitter," he admitted. "Especially when it's straight, I usually have three scoops of sugar in and some milk."

Sayaka gave Tom's cup a long, hard stare. "I've never tried coffee before…"

"Want to try some?" Tom asked, seeing her stare.

"A bit," Sayaka agreed.

Tom smiled in response and slid his cup closer to her. "Go ahead," he offered.

"T-Thank you…" Sayaka stuttered momentarily, taking the offered cup and taking a sip out of it.

…

Her face scrunched up as she attempted to process the taste.

"Too bitter?" Tom asked with a smirk on his face.

Sayaka nodded, pushing the cup aside. "Need more sugar," she made a face and returned to her cup of tea.

At that moment, the door to the inn was kicked open, as walking in was none other than Jordan, Ron, Dennis, Rossa, and Lux, each of them clad in their gear, and armed to the teeth with their respective weapons. "Yeah, I think I broke your door." He said, "AnywaHOLY *BLEEP* CHINESE CHECKERS!" He indicated the set of Chinese Checkers near the end of the Inn. "Shot the next game, there's nothing you can do to stop-" a rock hit Jordan in the face. "GOD DAMNIT KIRITO!"

"Hey, Ryu's tired of your memes." Kirito said with a satisfied smirk. "Not everyone's seen Code MENT afterall."

"If he didn't I would have," Tom informed with a bored look. "Though you two seem to know one another..."

"Yeah… aside from the last boss," Jordan glanced around, making sure there were no other players. "Kiri, do they know…?"

"Yeah, yeah they know." Kirito said, waving his hand. "He and I played in the beta together, we teamed up to take out some lower bosses… and we dueled a few times, kicked his ass a few times."

"You had better PRAY they don't add bow and arrows into this game, Kirito… " Jordan growled, "Or I will go Legolas on your ass."

Tom sighed as he shook his head. "Argo should be here with the Legend Braves soon," he announced. "They seem to be a mostly tanking group."

"Heard about them, not much on the members itself." Jordan said as he and his party took a seat. "Oh, by the way - guess who I found a week ago when we first got here," He grinned as he pointed towards Ron.

"Suprise, Mother*bleep*er." Ron said with a small smirk, "Ronald Pinkerton, good to see ya Ryu."

"Ron? Hey, wasn't expecting you to be here," Tom answered in surprise.

"Blame my idiot brother," Ron said with a growl. "I said it before, I'll say it again… when I get this mother*bleep*ing helmet off my head and shove Kayaba's bloody head so far up his own *Bleep*, I am throwing this thing into my brother's head for talking me into trying this piece of BULL*BLEEP*! I WILL MURDER THE FUCKER RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS, AND DAMN THE EXPENSE!" The picture of absolute rage faded as quickly as it came. "On a another note, how have you been?" The way he just DID that was creepy, not that any of them would admit it.

Tom shrugged in response. "Just keepin' an eye on these kiddies," he informed, gesturing to the group he was in, garnering some glares in response. "Handfuls they are."

"Mugi."

Tom smirked at the now stone faced Sayaka, who had reverted back to her emotionless persona when the others joined them. "Anyways, once the Braves get here we can go over the battleplan."

As Tom finished speaking the door opened to allow a group of six heavily armored men being led by Argo to enter the room, making a beeline for their table. "And here they are, welcome," Tom greeted with a nod and a smile.

"So, these are the Legend Braves I've been hearing about… " Jordan muttered, "Look more like the guys who care more about their names and looks than actual combat skills… gear ain't half-bad though."

"They'll get the job done for Terryu's plan, it has Argo's guarantee," the information broker assured.

Dennis blinked as he looked at Argo, "Hey Jordan, who's the midget?" He asked, not even bothering to whisper, causing Jordan to facepalm.

"Well, I think a new piece of information on someone's sexual preference is about to enter the market," Argo announced with a sniff. "And all of you will be paying an additional 25% for any information."

"Goddamnit Dennis, this isn't Fallout!" Jordan said, slapping Dennis behind the head. "You can't do the neutral path thing by being half ass hole, half decent guy!"

"I am not even trying. Its just hard not to be a nice ass(hole) from time to time," Dennis said with a smirk.

"Behave yourself while working in this group or forfeit your share," Asuna declared imperiously, surprising some of the group. "We cannot afford _any_ friction between us."

"Rude," Sayaka commented.

"Whatever you say. Besides despite my rough personality I can be a good tank" Dennis said shrugging, as he ignored a snap from Rossa.

"Alright, since we're all here, time to go over the plan," Tom announced as the Legend Braves took their seats.

"Must be something special if there's only three parties here," the leader of Legend Braves, Orlando - a tall man with a slightly chubby face - commented with an impressed look.

Tom shook his head. "Not really, it's a simple plan, Legend Braves, who are your best Tanks?" he asked turning to the group.

"Ah, that would be me, Gilgamesh, and Enkindu," Orlando informed with a wide grin.

"Right, then, you three will be with m and Agil. Our job is to keep the Boss in one place long enough for Sayaka,and Asuna to cripple the boss' legs, following that, Kirito will deal the final blow to the boss' weak point," Tom explained, using some of the utensils on the table as props to show them the plan. "You remaining party members will support Sayaka and Asuna while also acting as their direct guards, Jorn, Ron, your party will be on Add control. can you handle it?"

"I'm fairly good at dealing with large numbers of targets. There MAY be a shortage after we're done, though."

"That's fine," Tom assured with a wave. "Once the boss is finished, we split the loot evenly and call it a day."

"So long as this gets us closer to getting out, I don't think any of us really care. Am I right?" No one answered. "Oh, come on, don't tell me any of you WANT to stay in this hellhole?"

"Wellll... " Jordan drawled out. "It's a good game… once you take out the 'death' part. Most of this situation is on Kayaba's head. If people think this whole thing is gonna stop us from playing VRMMO's, I doubt it will."

"Oh, just fucking shoot me now…" for a second, they thought they would hear a gunshot to signal Ron's request. Instead, they got nothing. "I call dibs on Kayaba's head. I have many unspeakable things I wish to do to him before he dies."

"Well, if my guess is right, Kayaba is on the top floor, and is the final boss," Tom commented with a sigh. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves, is there any gear or equipment that you guys need?"

"A set of _lorica segmentata_ and a _scutum_ would be nice, but that's not happening any time soon." The Japanese players cocked their heads in confusion.

"Huh?" Asuna asked.

The kilij-wielder facepalmed. "RIGHT. I'm probably the only one here who bothers to look at actual ancient armor sets. Lorica segmentata is Roman legionary armor, and a scutum is a heavy shield."

"Ron, get your head out of the past," Tom said with a shake of his head. "While this is a very realistic game, not everything is going to work like it did in history."

"Even so, if you don't learn from history, you will be screwed over. Better to be safe then sorry. Now, when are we heading out?"

"In a few minutes," Tom assured, picking up his coffee. "Relax, Ron, it's not good for your mental health to be going full bore 24/7."

"Neither is getting stuck in a game, and I'd rather avoid getting stuck in here for years on end. I think that focusing on getting out quickly should be our ultimate goal, not completing every quest. We WILL die eventually, either by the game's enemies, or by our bodies weakening in the real world."

"But I'd rather not be suicidal when I get out," Tom countered. "Push yourself too hard and you _will_ mentally break down, especially in high pressure situations such as boss fights, so take some time, and relax, would that _really_ kill you?"

Ron scoffed. "Relaxing was what I was planning on doing when I got out of the tutorial." The argument was brought to an end before it dissolved into bloodshed.

"Ron, have you _ever_ studied the effects of long term stress on the human mind? Which… is still affected in this world?" Tom asked with a deep sigh.

"It breaks. But I can't relax in this *bleep*ing game. AND WOULD SOMEONE TURN OFF THAT DAMNED CENSORSHIP?! I CAN'T *bleep*ING CURSE WITHOUT SPEAKING IN MORSE CODE! WHAT AM I, THE RMS TITANIC SENDING OUT A DISTRESS CALL?!" The long string of curses that came out of the man's mouth sounded a great deal like Morse code. It caused one of three things: everyone either laughed, were just shocked or were utterly confused.

Tom sighed before shaking his head. "Then go and be depressed then, just do it elsewhere," he said. "Trying to enjoy some coffee with friends."

"I'd quote The Matrix on that, but you were never much for philosophy on that part. but I'm here, and I'm helping. So you're stuck with me. Call it depression if you want. I call it 'driven to escape'."

"Hey, I'm glad we're stuck with ya, Ron," Jordan said. "Once we get to that top level, his head's all yours… once _I'm_ done with him." He smirked a bit. "Should be an interesting boss though when we get there… unlike any other floor boss, he won't have a pattern of attack. It's Player vs Player."

The large Canadian said nothing before he walked out of the place. "Don't mind him." Jordan said, "He might seem like a prick, but Ron does care in his own way. He'll watch your back so hard, it'll leave marks."

"I'm just concerned with his mental health," Tom pointed out. "Stress… does funny things to a person's head."

"Don't worry, I'll convince him to join my guild once we get to Floor 3," Jordan said. "I'll make sure he gets the relaxation he desperately needs… something we're _all_ gonna need before this whole mess is over with."

The rest nodded in agreement. "Right then, so, any complaints about the plan then?" Kirito asked, looking around.

"It's sound," Jordan commented, nodding. "We'll keep you covered from the minions, you guys take on the boss itself."

Tom nodded. "Alright then, grab your gear, we're doin' this thing," he announced as he stood up, Sayaka close behind him.

"Quick question Tom, does this place have a backyard so me and the girls can do some training." Dennis asked causing the girls to groan.

"We're _just_ about to go into a boss fight," Tom countered. "Any training will just be counter to our efforts."

"Okay I see your point that now is a bad time." He said, "I just like to make sure everyone is still tuned and are accustomed their current skills. Something dad pounded on me and seeing some players die before they forgot to activate them just reinforces it," Dennis said much to the relief of the girls.

"Any training done now would just make it worse," Tom pointed out. "We need everyone rested and ready, not tired and paranoid."

"Hmm true." Dennis said with a bit of regret in his face. "I tend to forget even my own rest and pushed myself too hard when it started. Took me a day in the game before I could move again. Pushing the others to that point would be reckless even for my standards"

"Right, let's get going, if you need potions or anything now's the time to get them," Kirito announced as they started moving.

"I need to restock," Sayaka said after a quick check of her inventory.

"Alright, let's go get them, need a couple more blood clotting potions myself," Tom commented as he checked his inventory.

"Don't worry about that. Give me a few minutes I can set up enough potions for everyone. After all, I _am_ an alchemist," Rossa said proudly.

"Trust me, it saves us a lot of col," Dennis assured.

Tom shrugged. "What do you need, Sayaka?" he asked his partner.

"Just health pots," the girl answered flatly.

"Rossa how many you got right now?" Dennis asked

"Apart from the ones we are equipped I got about forty extras."

"Forty!? Why do you have so much?" Sayaka asked with a shocked look

"Well apart for boss battles and grinding, I have to make sure this big oaf doesn't die out during his tanking and training," Rossa said with an annoyed tone as she jerked a thumb at Dennis.

"Hey I am a tank, I am SUPPOSED to be the human shield for this party. Besides, you guys know I open up a lot of chances to flank the enemies I have distracted. Besides, I am wearing plate armor and using a greatshield, so I can take the punishment!" Dennis said defensively.

"Yeah, but you ain't good to us dead you idiot, so watch it!" Rossa said angrily.

"Aww, I didn't know you cared about me so much," Dennis said teasingly.

"Oh, just shut up! I'm just trying to take care of everyone's health. God knows you and Jordan wouldn't If I didn't remind you two constantly," Rossa shot back.

"Hey, don't drag me into this!" Jordan grumbled.

"Anyway," Rossa said as she ignored Jordan. "The ingredients are inexpensive and can be easy to find in the wild if you know what you're looking for." Rossa said as she opened the trade window for Sayaka.

"Thanks," Sayaka nodded emotionlessly, accepting the trade.

"Right then, let's get going," Tom announced as he accepted his own trade with her. "We've got a boss to kill."

* * *

 **Forest Meadow - Second Floor Field Boss**

* * *

"Big cow," Sayaka muttered, peering through the bushes at the field boss grazing in the center of the grassy field. Beyond it, they could just make out the entrance to the floor's labyrinth embedded into a cliffside.

"Forget about eating hamburgers for weeks," Tom muttered. "Think of the _steaks_ you could make from a cow that big."

"I've seen bigger monsters in FF13." Ron stated.

"Meh, I'm more for chicken to be honest." Jordan said shrugging as he pulled out his menu, "Alright, my menu's connected to my computer's MP3's, so if anyone wants to listen to my playlist, or is sick and tired of that repetitive battle music in the game's OST, switch to audio channel 2."

"It's not that bad," Dennis said.

"Dennis, it sounds like someone is saying 'Coffee, Soda,' over and over again," he muttered. "It gets tiring after a while."

"I turned mine off," Ron stated. "Less of a headache. Let's get going: we have a game to escape."

"Okay, I see about… ugh, twelve bees around the boss. Why does it have to be bees!?" Dennis said as he cringed.

"Shut up and do your fucking job!" Ron said in annoyed tone. "Let them focus on the boss while we deal with the goddamn bees! We have a job to do, so let's get to it, goddamn it!"

"Alright, alright, dammit!" Dennis grumbled as he stepped out of the bush and into the open.

He took a deep breath and activated his [Howl] skill, which sounded like a deathclaw from _Fallout_ ,making the enemies focus on him apart from the boss. The bees, who were the size of a toddler, went flying toward him with stingers out, and were dripping a red fluid that sizzled slightly as it touched the grass below, indicating it was venom.

As Dennis readied his shield, three knives came out of the bush and hit three of the incoming bees. "Come on you oversized bugs! HAVE AT THEE!" Jordan shouted as he spun the next set of knives in his hand. "I don't need a Bow and Arrow to kick your asses!"

"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" Both froze as they heard the seeming voice of Stephanie Sheh, voice actor for MANY English dubbed anime females. but when they looked at the source, it wasn't a woman. It was RON. "EVERYTHING FUCKING DIE!"

"I am not even going to bother with that stupid crap now! Just focus on the damn bees! Gah!" Dennis said as he barely blocked an incoming stinger and then thrusted his estoc at the bees abdomen."I FUCKING HATE THESE THINGS!" Dennis screamed as he kept fighting and blocking.

"Just shut up already and keep fighting. You're a 5'9 over 200 pounds guy against these small things!" Rossa said as she stabbed a bee with her spear.

"Hehe so much for our fearless tank." Lux giggled as she leaped over and did 360 slash with her rapier toward three bee that were around her.

Dennis growled at the two but kept on fighting his 'little' fear.

"Tom-kun," Sayaka tugged at Tom's shirt. "Your friend is weird."

Tom sighed in response. "Trust me, you haven't even seen the _start_ of it," he groaned out before shaking his head. "Alright, Shield Tanks, with me! DPSes be ready to strike!"

"Watch out when it charges! Just remember it can't turn when it does that!" Kirito shouted out, even as he dashed towards the Bulbous Bow.

"Right!" one of the DPS's of Legend Braves shouted out as they charged, keeping close to Asuna and Sayaka to ensure their safety.

"Shields up, and activate your hate skills!" Tom shouted. "Draw the boss' attention!"

"On it!" One member of the Legend braves said as he and two others ran toward the boss while wearing greenwich armor that had blue trimmings. All three activated their hate skills. One did a [Howl] skill like Dennis while one activated his [Fight spirit] skill and was enveloped in large dark blue aura as he yelled. Finally the last member activated his [Spiritual Light] skill and much like the latter he had the same aura but was bright and yellow as the virtual sun but without the yelling.

All of the hate skills combined quickly drew the boss's attention, causing the Bulbous Bow to turn in their direction and snort audibly as it raised its head first in one direction before bringing it across so that its giant horns would hit the tanks. Tom, Orlando, Gilgamesh and Enkidu dug their feet into the ground and pull all of their strength into the shields as the left horn struck, pushing them back slightly as their armoured greaves dug furrows in the ground.

Tom grunted as he adjusted his position slightly as he held his ground with the three Legend Braves. "Now! While it's turning!" he shouted out. "Asuna! Sayaka!"

"Right!" Sayaka jumped in, using her light weight to her advantage as she actually used a stray bee as a stepping stone to jump up and swing her wakizashi across the giant bull's flank.

"Hiyaaaah!" Asuna shouted, her rapier tracing blue trails of light across the space between her and the legs of the beast. Her Linears struck as true as ever, if the boss's angered roar was any indication.

"Get his attention back to us!" Tom shouted. "We need to keep him occupied until they can cripple his legs!"

"Right!" Orlando shouted as the three used their aggro generating skills in unison, drawing the boss's attention to them. "Oh it does _not_ like us right now!"

"Come on! Your mother was a PIG! A literal PIG!" Tom shouted tauntingly as he the three Braves basically linked shields and braced themselves for the charge.

Sayaka very nearly tripped over after hearing that, but she managed to recover and knock another stray bee away with her sword.

"Stop teaching Sayaka-chan bad things!" Asuna called out, dashing forward and lashing out with another series of [Linears] against the boss's rear left leg.

"Not even trying to at this point!" Tom shouted in return as he and the Braves held true for a few short moments before being thrown back. "Potions, now!"

"Already downing them!" Enkindu shouted as he tossed the said empty potion bottle away. "Taste like crap!"

"*Bleep* about the taste when you've got time to *Bleep*!" Ron yelled as the bees continued swarming the distraction team, stinging once for every ten that died.

"Rossa can make them taste like Cherries if you want!" Jordan shouted as he leaped on top of a giant bee, and stabbed it in the back of its head, before leaping off and repeating the process on a second one. "Quit your *bleep*ing and KILL THAT SOB!"

Suddenly, before any of them could react, a single bee broke off from the swarm of adds and sped straight for the [Bulbous Bow]. "What the hell is that Add doing?" Tom asked as he and the Braves retook their stance.

"I have no clue, and I don't quite care!" Jordan shouted, as one of the bees grazed his shoulder. "GAH! *Bleep*ING BEES! *BLEEP* YOU IN THE MOTHER*BLEEP*ING *BLEEP* *BLEEP* *BLEEP* GOD*BLEEP* SPOON!"

"Tom-kun, your friends are weird," Sayaka muttered emotionlessly, even as she slashed a few times at a leg before backflipping back to Tom's side.

Tom sighed with a shake of his head. "Don't I know it," he muttered. "Just be glad my family isn't here, then you'd see the definition of insanity and a truly _nuclear_ family."

"That bee is getting closer," the stone-faced girl pointed out as the stray bee closed in on the field boss.

Indeed the bee landed on the cow's back, near it's rump, and raised its stinger. "Oh… crap," Tom muttered.

"Why is the add attacking the boss?" Sayaka wondered.

The stinger fell as the clearing became silent for a moment before the [Bulbous Bow] howled out in pain and anger, knocking a few back from the force of the yell. "Oh *bleep* he's enraged!" Gilgamesh shouted out.

"Sayaka, Asuna, behind us. now!" Tom shouted out quickly. "Tanks front and center, brace yourselves!"

"Right!" the brunette beauty shouted, dragging Sayaka with her as she pulled back behind the tanks.

Just in time, as the boss spun around with more speed than the group had seen from it before, and smashed its horns into the tanking group. They put up a valiant defense, but the boss's newfound strength managed to send Gilgamesh and Enkidu flying while Orlando and Tom were bowled over onto their backs.

"Tom-kun!" Sayaka shouted, diving back into the fray as she jumped onto another bee, and then another before managing to reach the boss's back.

"I'm good!" Tom assured as he quickly rolled to his feet into a ready stance, pulling a potion out of his inventory. "Braves, you alive over there?"

"Yeah, somehow!" Orlando confirmed as they quickly downed their own Health Pots. "Damn, his strength is downright ridiculous!"

"It's a [Berserk] Status Effect!" Kirito shouted out in explanation. "More power but can only do regular attacks, no skill assists!"

A roar of annoyance came from the other Canadian in the group. "BEFORE I LEAVE THIS PLACE, KAYABA, I WILL SUBJECT YOU TO THE SPREAD EAGLE BEFORE TAKING YOUR HEAD OFF!"

Sayaka had attempted to attack the boss from on top of it, but was now being forced to jam her sword into its back and hold on for dear life as it began shaking vigorously in an attempt to throw her off.

"Target its legs!" Tom roared out. "Cripple it!"

"That's impossible with how he's shaking like that!" Asuna shouted, watching in horror as Sayaka was thrown completely off the boss towards Tom.

Tom gritted his teeth as he ran toward her, sliding onto his knees as he caught her, letting out an 'oomph' as she landed in his arms. "You okay?" he asked in concern.

"Ow," she muttered, shaking her head to clear away the stars she was seeing. "That didn't work."

"Good attempt," Tom assured her. "Pretty gutsy to try and jump the bees like that."

Sayaka's cheeks gained a slight dusting of pink. "Umm, Tom-kun… not in public…" she whispered as she realized where his hands were.

Tom groaned as he quickly helped her stand before retaking his stance. "Any other bright ideas guys?" he called out hoping to put… _that_ behind them quickly.

"The moment I find Kayaba, I'm gonna rip his *bleep* off and shove it down his neck!" Jordan shouted, before an idea hit him. "Yo Ryu! If I can distract him long enough, you think you and the others can finish this *bleep*hole off?!"

"Don't worry, I have an idea!" Kirito shouted. "Ryu! Keep him still for a few more moments!"

"Whatever your idea is, do it fast!" Tom shouted as he and the Braves threw everything they had into countering the boss' force.

Not even a second later he felt a foot press down on his shoulder as Kirito landed on him and used him as a springboard to leap up to the [Bulbous Bows] weak point, a [Vertical] Sword Skill already primed as he launched it at the boss, slashing its weak point, cutting a massive chunk of its health off.

Kirito wasn't finished, however as the [Vertical] Skill placed him into a point perfect to chain a [Slant] skill in, quickly followed by a [Horizontal] and a [Vorpal Strike] that tore off the boss' remaining health causing it to roar out in pain before shattering into glowing fragments.

Jordan blinked before he groaned, putting his cloak back on. "Sure, go ahead… steal my thunder…" he muttered to himself, before he spoke up. "Welp, that settles it - scratch one field boss!"

Tom let out a groan as he collapsed onto his butt, sprawling out on the grass. "Ow," he muttered half heartedly. "My legs are like jelly."

"Rossa?" Jordan asked, as Rossa nodded tossing him a bottle of a yellow liquid before he tossed it at Tom, who caught it. "That should help with that. Stamina potion."

"With a hint of ginger ale for taste," Rossa added, "I always think the potions you buy at the store are so tasteless… gotta at least make them _enjoyable,_ right?"

Tom shrugged as he downed the potion and looked over to Sayaka. "You alright?" he asked her in concern.

"I'm fine," the black-haired girl nodded, even as she sat down beside Tom. "That was a lot easier than the 1st floor boss fight."

"Well, its pretty much a sub-boss," Kirito explained as he sheathed his sword. "They're never quite as strong as the real bosses."

"Well, with the field boss gone, the floor boss is ready to be fought… once _we're_ ready," Jordan said with a sigh. "Which I doubt we are… and even then we're gonna have to _find_ the damn thing inside the maze… "

"We can worry about that later," Agil informed, the dark skinned man holstering his large ax. "Let's get back to town and divvy up the spoils, shall we?"

"You got it… " Dennis said nodding, cracking his neck a bit. "I swear if I see another giant bee in this game ever again… "

"I hate bees… so much now..." Lux muttered, shaking her head.

"You know they're going to appear again, right?" Tom asked with a grin. " _Too_ many people are afraid of Giant Bees not to."

"I wonder if there'll be any snakes on the upper floors," Sayaka wondered.

"As much as I hate to say it, there's probably bosses that are snakes," Tom groaned. "I dislike snakes, they're just plain creepy."

"Snakes are cool," the girl raised an eyebrow.

"Creepy," the male countered with a deadpan stare.

"They're actually quite nice to touch, and you just have to know how to handle them - don't touch them near the tail, but rather near the head, and of course, don't go anywhere near the colourful snakes," Sayaka rattled off.

"I know all that, but I still think they're creepy," Tom said with a scowl. "All stealthy and slithering."

"But I like stealthy," Sayaka muttered.

"Nothing against it, I just don't like anything that's stealthy below my ankle," Tom explained with a firm nod. "I happen to like my ankles thank you."

Sayaka discreetly pinched Tom's ankle.

"Ow! Hey!" Tom shouted in surprise before taking a half-hearted swipe at Sayaka.

The black-haired girl had immediately taken off using her [Sprinting] skill and was already halfway across the field by the time the swipe would have connected with her.

"Get back here, you brat!" Tom called out as he rose to his feet and started chasing after her. "I will get you! Slowly, but I will!"

Jordan chuckled as Tom went chasing after her "I can see them together…" he said. "The age gap's gonna be an issue, though, probably when we get out of here… "

"In a year or two she'll be able to pass off as an adult with no problems whatsoever," Agil pointed out.

"She's got an illegal-looking body after all, nishishishi~" Argo, who had been hiding at the back since the start of the battle, walked in with her patented laugh.

"And the Rat finally comes out of hiding, huh?" Kirito observed teasingly. "Is she perhaps… _jealous_ of someone?"

"Well, I prefer to hide in the shadows, what good would those things do when I'm trying to blend in?" Argo waved it off nonchalantly.

Kirito gave her a knowing smirk. "Uh-huh, just like how you try to grope her any chance you get?" he prodded.

"Appreciating her body doesn't mean I want them myself," Argo shrugged. "That being said, Terryu needs to stop teaching her grap-"

She ducked under Sayaka's attempted flying tackle which she knew would have chained into an armbar immediately.

What she didn't see coming, however, was the figurative Main Battle Tank that was Tom, as he was running in a full out sprint, chasing after Sayaka, who had turned her dive into a roll in order to keep moving, bowling over the information broker without even breaking stride. "Pain Train express route!" he shouted unrepentantly.

"Hawawawawa…" Argo's vision was spinning as she attempted to get up off the ground.

"Well, so, would you prefer that instead of armbars?" Kirito asked with a smirk, trying to stifle his sniggers.

"Neither…" Argo groaned.

"Something tells me, you're going to keep getting both," Asuna commented, hiding her giggles behind her hand. "Have fun with that."

Agil shook his head in exasperation, although there was a smile stretched across his face.

* * *

 **END CHAPTER!**


	4. Second Floor Pt 2: Floor Boss, Round One

Disclaimer: Buy the official release, which this is not.

* * *

 **Urbus, Inn**

* * *

Tom yawned as he came out of his slumber, blinking the grit out of his eyes as he felt a weight on his side, looking over he saw that Sayaka, once again, was curled up into his side. ' _Looks like she had another nightmare,_ ' he thought to himself in concern as he felt her tremble slightly against him. ' _Dammit, if only I knew more about psychology, then maybe I could help her with her issues,_ '

"D-Don't touch me there, Tom-kun…" she mumbled, her thighs clamping around Tom's arm and putting it in a rather… compromising position.

Tom sweatdropped. ' _Can't exactly move it with that grip of yours,_ ' Tom thought as he wiggled his hand away from her… sensitive area, trying to ease his arm out of her grip.

If anything, Sayaka's grip just got tighter and she even wrapped her arms around his arm to pull it into her bosom. "Hug pillow…"

"Come on," he whispered as he leaned away, trying to create wiggle space for his arm. "I got out of the drill sergeant's armbar, I can get out of this."

Sayaka's grip tightened yet again, as if she had heard him.

Tom narrowed his eyes as he caught a shift in her face, noticing an irregular rhythm to her breathing. "Well then, just one choice left," he intoned. "The ultimate technique."

"Comfy hug pillow…" Sayaka whispered, pulling Tom's arm further into her bosom.

Tom's other arm came around to her side, and gently played his fingers across it, tickling her through her night clothes. "TICKLE TORTURE!"

"MUGYAAAAAA!" Sayaka yelped, relinquishing her grip as her eyes shot open.

Tom didn't relent as he kept up his 'assault', using his now free arm to great effect. "Trying to prank me like that, Sayaka?" he asked over her laughing scream. "That's not nice!"

"B-B-But I thought guys- fuwawawa- liked b-b-being woken up like that!" Sayaka squirmed, rolling from side to side to try and prevent Tom from getting at her vulnerable sides. "Y-You didn't- hahaha- like it?"

"By their lovers," Tom amended as he kept looking for her weak points. "Kinda awkward otherwise."

"S-S-So I'm not close enough to you yet?" Sayaka rolled into the bedframe and banged her head on it. " _Itai_!"

Immortal Object

Tom paused his his tickling as he looked down at Sayaka, who was nursing her forehead, with a serious look. "Saya… are… you…" he started hesitantly. "Are you saying… what I think you are?"

Sayaka sat up slowly, as she realized what she had just said. "F-F-Forget I said anything!" she stammered, her cheeks bright crimson as she jumped to her feet and hurriedly reequipped her armour before rushing out of the room.

Tom stared at the vacant door for a few moments before sighing. "Real smooth, Casanova," he muttered to himself as he equipped his own armor and began to trail after the girl. "Real smooth."

* * *

 **Outside the inn**

* * *

Ron sat on the ground, attempting to sketch a scene from World War II on a piece of paper. It was of a Messerschmitt Me-262 shooting down a B-17H Flying Fortress. Unlike the others, all Ron cared about was getting out of the game. Not advancing to the highest levels, though he would likely have no choice now. Not getting the best equipment. Just the right to PULL THE GODDAMNED HELMET OFF HIS HEAD!

He KNEW this was a bad idea. He had watched _.Hack/Sign_ , where one of the characters was trapped in the game for the entire series. He had seen _The Matrix_ , where people mistook virtual reality for actual reality for their entire lives. This? This was WORSE. In _The Matrix_ , their bodies were being sustained intravenously. Here? Barely living from an IV drip. If their caretakers were late in replacing the bags, making sure that they were kept sanitary and such, they would die from thirst, infection...

None of the others knew this, or WANTED to know this. Then there was what would happen IF they escaped. Most would think they could just get up and swear off the thing. They would be QUITE wrong. They would barely be able to move at all. Prisoners from the concentration camps (like the infamous Auschwitz Birkenau) who were still alive were little more than skeletons with skin when liberated by the Soviets and the Western Allies. Some even died when fed soup. SOUP, of all things. Every single person would be the same way.

Sure, things had changed, but the saying 'the more things change, the more they stay the same' also came to mind, as they STILL suffered the same risks, no matter WHAT timeframe it was, be it 5000 years in the past in Egypt or 200 years into the future.

"Hmmm… that works… but then… *sigh*. it would be so much easier if I was at home..."

Ron blinked as he heard Jordan's voice, as he stopped what he was doing and peaked into Jaden's room, as he was sitting at his table, as he appeared to be writing something down on paper.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked, causing Jordan to stop what he was doing and glance at Ron.

"Writing," he said shrugging, "Just because we're trapped here doesn't mean I have to stop working on some of my stories… helps maintain _some_ sense of normality with all this going… helps keep my mind off the fact how easily I could well… you know."

"I hate this *BLEEP*ing game." Ron mutterd, "I had plans when I was done testing it for my brother. Going out, visiting my grandmother, not getting STUCK IN THIS HELLHOLE FOR THREE *BLEEP*ING MONTHS. Well, I'll have to look on the bright side. At least I'll lose a fair amount of weight."

"Probably," Jordan said nodding before he sighed, "We'll ALL be getting a whole lot thinner before this whole thing's over with… and a whole lot more people are gonna die before it is… all I can do is just do as best as I humanly can… and hope I can survive this mess with you guys, Ryu and his friends… "

Ron leaned on the wall outside the window. "And now you know why I'm so anal about getting the hell out of here." He said. "If just one person completes that goal, we're home free." It was sound logic. At least in theory. "But I'm going to need a better weapon. This kilij was good, but I'm going to need an upgraded version soon, and I doubt there are crafters just yet."

"There probably some low-level crafters around," Jordan said, shrugging. "You don't start getting the good stuff until around level 10… at least good compared to what we use to have in the earlier levels. The Betas only got as far as floor 10, we have no idea what's after 10. I'm still crossing my fingers in hopes they'll add bows…"

"I'm preferring something like the Zhuge Nu." He pulled out another sheet of paper before beginning to draw out a design of a European steel crossbow, adding what appeared to be a cocking lever and a rough magazine of sorts to it.

"Nice… it would be nice to have some Crossbows, though I prefer regular bows." Jordan said nodding, "Never knew you were that good with a pen though… well, you're sure as hell better than _I_ am at least."

"It's a concept." Ron said. "I hate VR. Even with medical attention, we're going to be suffering for months, if not years, depending on how long we're stuck in this place."

"I would like to say it'll take at least one or two years to finish the game," Jordan said, "I can't make that accurate of a guess though… like I keep saying, I only know what the first 10 levels are, after that… I've got nothing."

"We're boned. That's it." Ron said sighing. "Well, I might as well go looking for a nice little place to grind my *BLEEP* off. The sooner we leave, the better."

"Yeah, I'll track down Dennis, Lux and Rossa," Jordan said, as he picked up his own knives. "There's a medium-leveled spawn area for mobs near the east corner of the floor, we should get some good XP from them."

The larger Canadian groaned as he straightened his back out. "If I EVER touch VR again...shoot me. Just SHOOT me."

"Don't be too dramatic," Jordan said sighing as they headed for the door. "I'll send 'em a message."

* * *

 **Urbus Streets**

* * *

"I can't believe I just went and did that…" Sayaka moaned as she slowed from the all-out [Sprint] she had been using to get out of Tom's sight.

Looking around, she realized that she was in the central area of the city, which was already getting lively with the members of the clearing group in its infancy and a few adventurous players who had been previously stuck on the 1st floor. More than a few were just standing around gawking at the new things they hadn't seen before there.

Sayaka sighed and just kept on walking aimlessly even as she put on her usual emotionless mask. On the inside however, she was berating herself for giving Tom too much of a hint as to her real feelings.

' _I mean, come on, he's so much older than me! It'll take me too long just to catch up to his age… and I'm not even sure if I really feel that way towards him or if it's just because I've been staying with him for so long - I've only known him for a few months!'_

She stopped at an intersection and scanned her surroundings for a moment before she realized that there was a dull feeling in the depths of her stomach and it was gnawing at the edge of her consciousness.

' _I'm hungry.'_

Sayaka spun around and headed towards a small restaurant with tables set aside on the street for the patrons. Within moments of her taking a seat, a waiter appeared beside her to ask for what she wanted to order even as a menu popped up floating in mid-air in front of her.

"Oh? Isn't that the little demon?"

Her finger froze on its way to the 'Accept Order' button as she turned to look at the source of the voice. Standing there were several members of the clearing group from the 1st floor boss fight, most of which were Kibaou's groupies.

"Not with your boyfriend today?" one of them sneered.

The word 'boyfriend' very nearly broke her mask, but she slammed her force of will down and stopped herself from flinching. "He's not my boyfriend," she replied flatly, before completing her order of a beef sandwich and tea.

"He does act like it… being your guardian and protector and all that crap." The comment earned a few laughs from the group. "But unlike him, you're actually a decent-looking girl… Maybe you should hang out with us instead! I'm sure we can put in a good word to Kibaou for you…"

Sayaka inwardly shivered at the lecherous turn the conversation was taking. "No," she replied.

"And why not?" the guy continued. "We've got a whole group of high-levelled players here, and your chances of survival are going to be better in a big group…"

"I don't need a group of people like you," Sayaka said, even as the waiter arrived with her order. Before she could so much as lift up her sandwich though, a dagger slammed down into it, pinning it and the plate to the table. The sandwich shattered into polygons. The plate and table just turned up Immortal Object notifications.

"No fighting in the restaurant please," the waiter said robotically.

"Don't use that tone on me, you cheeky brat…" the guy just ignored the NPC and leaned in close. Sayaka didn't flinch. "I may not be able to kill you inside this Safe Zone, but you just wait until you're outside. Dirty beater lovers like you shouldn't be allowed to just walk around like this…"

"Just so you know, we're going to go fight the field boss later today! If you get down on your knees and beg us, we might just let you come with us…" another guy laughed. "And if you contribute enough, I think we can let you get the Last Attack bonus too…"

Sayaka couldn't resist letting out a snort of laughter.

"What's so funny?" the dagger-wielder - focusing on his cursor told her his name was Hero595 leaned in further.

"Idiots," Sayaka muttered, reaching for her cup of tea.

That one also ended up pinned to the table.

"What did you just call us…?" Hero595 slowly asked in a threatening tone.

"Idiots," Sayaka reiterated, staring back into his eyes emotionlessly.

"I don't think we got it through to the little demon's head…" Hero595 stood up straight, looking down on Sayaka. "Let's just tie her up, throw her into the fields and let the monsters kill her!"

"Oh really?" a familiar voice asked icily. "You're willing to _kill_ and _murder_ someone? Well then, how about you try it with someone who is fully willing to return the favour?"

The group turned to see Tom standing there, his face etched into a mask of cold fury. "You want to know why she laughed, right?" he asked, a grin starting to touch his lips. "Well, it seems you're a day late for your little plan to kill the field boss, we already beat you to it."

"T-Tom-kun?" Sayaka yelped.

"Bastards… I knew you were trying to get all the best gear for yourselves!" Hero595 shouted.

"No, we want to leave this world," Tom countered bluntly. "And _assholes_ like you are keeping us here with your greed!"

"More like you people are trying to get the best gear for yourself and leave the others behind!" Kibaou's groupie shot back angrily. "While you run around the frontlines with the best gear available to everyone on the floor, everyone else is stuck with the lousy leftovers!"

"And you think mugging, robbing, and _KILLING_ people is any better!?" Tom snapped back, his eyes flashing with fury, a crowd of players started to form near them due to the commotion. "We frontliners are meant to pave the way and show people hope, that is what Diabel wanted, and that is what _we_ are doing, what have you done to do that?"

"Tch…" Hero595 backed off, seeing that he was drawing way too much attention than he had originally intended.

"We don't want to be your enemies," Tom assured. "But what we did, we did because we knew you would not cooperate, and if we keep this up, we will _never_ leave," he stepped forward, holding out his hand with an open palm. "Please, work with us."

"Tch, as if I could ever work with a bunch of beater lovers!" Kibaou's groupie shot back.

"Then I guess you just want to be a bunch of thieves, muggers, and murderers," Tom said, a dark smirk spreading on his face, making sure the crowd heard every word. "After all, they are called 'beaters' right? Wouldn't that mean they can beat this game?"

Recognizing the odds were against them, Hero595 and his buddies took several steps back. "As if we'd ever stoop that low! Come on, we're leaving! Let these beater loving outsiders have their own fun!" With that, they pushed their way through the crowd, heading away from the city center.

Tom stared at them for a moment before sitting down at Sayaka's table. "Hey, you alright?" he whispered softly, the crowd dispersing, murmuring amongst themselves.

Sayaka was shaking slightly in her seat, even as she summoned the waiter and made her order again. "Y-You didn't have to do that, Tom-kun…"

"Yes, I did, because we are partners," he countered with a small smile as he made his own order. "As for what happened earlier, how about we pretend it never happened, okay?"

The black-haired girl froze and slumped onto the table. "I… I can't believe I actually said that…" she mumbled into the table.

"Said what?" Tom asked with a smile as he stirred the coffee he ordered. "Did we talk about something this morning?"

Sayaka looked up with a glare at the older male, although it gradually softened up. "T-Tom-kun, d-delaying it won't help me one bit…"

Tom's grin dropped a bit as he sighed. "Can you blame me for trying?" he asked repentantly. "Why don't you start with, why? I mean, why me?" he sighed again as he shook his head. "I mean, I'm no one really special, an entry level worker, kinda… messed up in the head, so what is it you find so attractive?"

"I-I don't know!" she yelped, burying her head in her hands. "I-I-It's just… I have so many conflicting feelings right now… I mean, you're so much older than me, and I've only known you for a few months since SAO began…"

"Well, in this situation, it's not surprising," he admitted, sipping his coffee. "We have been in close contact for those few months, relied on each other emotionally, mentally, and even physically, things like that are bound to happen."

"I… I don't even know if I should be feeling this way towards you…" Sayaka confessed. "I know this is a bit too much to ask for… but can you at least… give us time to… um… know more about each other?"

"Okay, Sayaka, I am not expecting anything from you," he admitted. "If… _that_ is what you want in the end… well… I guess I wouldn't be _too_ disappointed," he finished a small grin flashing on his face.

"But Tom-kun, I don't want you to like me just because I want you to…" Sayaka gently kicked his leg under the table. "I-I-I mean… don't just respond to my feelings alone! T-T-This kind of thing should also come from you as well! It should be mutual!"

Tom smiled. "I'm not responding to only your feelings," he told her, closing his eyes. "You think I would just let _anyone_ to be able to slip into bed with me?"

Sayaka heaved a sigh of relief. "At least I know you're not completely shutting me out…" she said, fidgeting slightly.

"I never could," he assured her. "So, what is it you want to know about me?"

"Umm…" Sayaka started fishing around for questions, but her nervousness about the whole situation was causing her to draw blanks. "Like… what are the things you like or dislike?" she finished lamely.

Tom chuckled in response. "Well, I am a gamer, so I like mostly RPGs with some first person shooters," he answered. "Star Wars is the best movie ever made in my opinion, and as for what I dislike, *bleep*holes like that guy are pretty much topping the list, what about you?"

"I like RPGs as well, but I play them mostly for the story," Sayaka smiled, biting into a bit of toast. "The Legend of Heroes series is quite good in that respect, but Final Fantasy games are a little overrated in my opinion…"

Tom chuckled. "After seven they really did drop in quality didn't they," he commented. "And thirteen was nothing but one long hallway."

"The series is only riding on the wave of popularity from the first few…" Sayaka sighed. "My younger brother used to rave about them, but he's never played the older ones like I have."

Tom chuckled in response. "Do you have any other family?" he asked. "What are they like."

"I'm living with my younger brother and my parents, they're pretty nice people," Sayaka was feeling the tension dissipate as she got more engrossed in the conversation. "My brother's turning out to be a bit of an otaku - he was pretty downcast that I got to play SAO before he did."

Tom chuckled. "Well… unfortunately, the only one I'm close to in my family is my older brother," he said with a wistful sigh. "Sure, my other siblings make the motions, but they only call when they want something for themselves, doesn't help that our parents had a 'them or us' mentality after the divorce."

"So… will they care if you… end up with me in the future?" Sayaka blushed. "With the difference in our ages?"

Tom snorted. "As if I'd _let_ them stop me," he said with a grin. "Probably get some ribbing from my brother, but I wouldn't give a shit what the rest would say, extended family… mixed bag, what about your family, what would they say?"

"My mum is pretty carefree, she won't mind," Sayaka sipped at her tea, letting out a deep breath of air as she took in the aroma…

It didn't quite smell right, but it wasn't like she could complain or do anything about it.

"My dad might try to kill you," she continued.

"Can't say I'd blame him," Tom said with a chuckle. "I would too."

"Yeah, he'd rag on me for recklessly throwing my future away or something like that," she chuckled, before adopting a more crestfallen look. "He'll be worried sick about me in real life…"

Tom hummed in response. "Have you ever given thought to what you wanted your career to be?"

Sayaka opened her mouth, tried to think of something before closing it again. She shook her head.

"Nothin' huh?" he chuckled a bit. "Ah, that's normal, I kinda got lucky with my job actually, it's just what I want to be doing'."

"That's fortunate…" Sayaka mused. "I don't even know what I want to be in the future. Being just a housewife and gossiping around the neighbourhood about disobedient husbands isn't my kind of thing."

Tom snorted. "Yeah, you don't fit that profile at all," he agreed humorously. "Do you plan on going to college or university?"

"I know I want to at least go into high school, that's for sure," his companion sighed. "After that… maybe I just want some time to figure out what I like. Maybe I could go into writing? I do like stories after all…"

"Sounds interesting," Tom smiled at her. "You're still young, though, plenty of time to choose your path."

"Will… will you come visit me in Japan after this is over?" Sayaka asked shyly, finishing off the last of her beef sandwich.

Tom nodded. "Of course I will," he assured her. "We are friends after all, right?"

"But you still need to learn Japanese first," she grumbled. "There's no auto translator in the real world…"

The Canadian laughed in response. "And in return I'll teach you English, how does that sound?" he offered with a wide grin.

"Didn't we agree on that a while ago?" the Japanese girl smiled, poking his arm.

Tom smiled as he shrugged in response. "I suppose we did," he agreed, opening his menu. "Want to get started?"

"Right now?" Sayaka blinked a few times. "In public…? Why not wait until we get back to the inn?"

Tom shrugged. "If that's where you feel more comfortable doing it, then sure," he offered.

Sayaka nodded as she finished her tea. "Um… can we hold hands on the way back?" she asked nervously.

Tom blinked in surprise before giving her a soft smile before he stode up with a courtly bow and held out his hand for her. "My Lady." he said with a fair british accent. "May I have the honor of escorting you?"

Sayaka flushed bright red. "On second thought, n-n-never mind!" she stammered, getting up and walking off without taking his hand.

"Oh come on, Sayaka!" he called after her as he followed her, a large grin on his face. "It was a joke!"

"Mugyuu," she mumbled as Tom catched up, before shyly wrapping her hand around one of his fingers.

Tom smiled at her, before quickly maneuvering their hands to be wrapped around each other. "You have nothing to be shy about," he told her assuringly. "It's just me after all."

Sayaka ducked her head as she bumped into his side gently. "D-Do you think people might think I'm older than I actually look?" she asked out of the blue.

Tom hummed in response. "If I were just to see you in passing, yeah, I'd say you'd look about seventeen or eighteen, maybe a childish looking nineteen year old," he answered honestly. "Why?"

"Then maybe the age issue isn't so much of a problem after all," Sayaka smiled, pulling his arm into her bosom.

Tom raised an eyebrow. "I… I have no response to that," he admitted, a blush forming on his face. "But, I am willing to follow your pace for this."

"Maybe… having a body like this isn't so bad after all…" she confessed, a similar blush on her own face.

"I take it you've had less than pleasant experiences because of it?" Tom asked in concern.

"I've told you before, haven't I?" Sayaka nodded. "It's the main reason I made myself… um, smaller than I am in real life at the start of SAO. Until the mirrors ruined that…"

"Ah," Tom responded. "That's… well, I may not understand it completely, but if someone does that here, point them out and I will cripple them."

"You didn't cripple those guys earlier," Sayaka pointed out.

"Safe Zone," Tom explained. "Can't injure or kill anyone in them unfortunately, but… I _did_ cripple public opinion of them."

Sayaka let out a small giggle. "I wish that same protection extended to me in real life before this…" she sighed.

"Well, I'm here now," he told her. "And if I happen to be continents away, I will hop on the first plane and _then_ cripple them."

"We do need to get out of this death game first, Tom-kun," she said, studying a junction closely. "Didn't we walk past this junction a while ago?"

"Nah, we couldn't have," Tom dismissed, a tight look on his face. "I mean, isn't the hotel right over here?"

Sayaka stared at Tom incredulously. "You got us lost again," she deadpanned.

"Scenic route," he countered immediately without hesitation.

"Lost."

"Touring."

"Lost."

"Touring."

"Lost!"

The pair continued to bicker as the onlookers sniggered at the sight, the two of them completely unaware that they were standing right outside of their hotel, their party watching the scene from the window, outright howling in laughter.

"Ah, lover's quarrel… " Jordan said, "At least its far more comical than when my brother or sister-in-law go at it… I swear they're just so immature sometimes… "

"You _really_ think the two of them will get well together?" Dennis asked, as Jordan shrugged.

"I believe so," he said. "Sure, there's a considerable age difference… but I think age is the last thing we need to worry about in a Death Game."

"So when do you think they'll figure out they're right in front of the hotel?" Rossa asked.

"Give it a minute," Lux said giggling a bit. "This is just to funny to not watch..."

"This isn't funny. It's annoying." And as usual, Ron was about to ruin someone's day as he stuck his head out the window. "Will you two shut up?! Some of us are trying to relax up here!"

"Shut up!" Sayaka yelled back up and went right back to arguing with Tom.

"Go *bleep* yourself, Ron!" Tom added in.

"You passed the fucking inn TWICE! Now shut up and let some of us sleep! I haven't had any in three weeks!"

"Don't be over dramatic Ron!" Jordan said, "You get just as much sleep as the rest of us do."

"Point stands! Now shut up and let me sleep!"

"Your friend is weird, Tom-kun…"

Tom groaned as he palmed his face. "Tell me something I don't know," he responded. "Let's just get inside, shall we?"

* * *

 **Several days later - Floor Dungeon**

* * *

"Alright, everyone take a break - Dennis, I want you on watch." Jordan said, as the group sighed as they took a seat somewhere in the dark corridors of the Dungeon.

"From what we have, it looks like we've cleared 45% of the dungeons," Lux said, looking through their map. "So far we've only had to fight a few mobs… no sign of the floor boss yet."

"We'll know it when we see it, Lux." Jordan said nodding. "We'll keep looking for another half hour, then we'll RTB, start over tomorrow morning."

"And we continue to live in interesting times. Anyone come up with an inventive way to kill that son of a whore today, or is my suggestion of ripping open his back and pulling out his lungs still the best?" The looks Ron received from that off-hand comment were, shall we put it, bewildered.

"If I find someone who has invented such a thing, you'll be the first to know." Jaden said, shaking his head.

"It's a Norse ritual. Cut open the back of a defeated enemy, cut away the ribs and pull out the lungs. It's called a 'blood eagle', and it's a long, painful way to die, because your lungs work best with the diaphragm, and without it-"

"Do you HAVE to be that descriptive?"

Ron looked at Lux. "We're in a game where we could die in the most inventive of ways. I just prefer the classics: impalement, blood eagle, drawn and quartered, dismemberment..." It was official: Ron was a repressed sociopath. He just didn't have an outlet.

"Personally I think that's too time consuming. Bronze bull bring the same painful results but faster." Dennis said as he patrolled around the group.

"Ooookkkaaayyy…" Jaden said, "Let's ahhh… let's keep going - break time over."

"Not my fault no one appreciates the classic ways to die anymore." It was clear that they needed to get Ron AWAY (and possibly Dennis) from grinding and questing for a while. A long, long LONG while.

* * *

 **With Kirito's Party**

* * *

"So, you're saying there's a quest that outlines the boss changes for the floor?" Kirito asked Argo in shock.

"Yeah, I've been hearing some rumours from the NPCs that don't match up with the beta test's," the information broker nodded grimly. "I'm afraid that if we go in without preparation again, we're going to get blindsided with other changes like we did with Illfang."

"None of us want that," Tom commented grimly as he kept a wary eye on the surrounding area. "What was the boss like in the Beta?"

"Bosses," Argo corrected. "There were a pair of giant minotaurs guarding the stairway to the next floor. The most troublesome thing about them was their ability to AoE stun players."

Tom bit back a curse at the information. "That's… troublesome," he muttered, his mind racing. "And that was just in Beta, now… now it get's difficult."

"More cows…?" Sayaka sighed. "It was kind of cool when we first reached the floor, but I think I've had enough cows for a few years…"

"Well, in the Beta the next floor was Elves," Kirito offered. "And one big forest… with lots of caves."

Sayaka mimed pointy ears.

Tom snorted. "I just hope they're not the gravity ignoring Elves from the Hobbit movies," he muttered. "Seriously, jumping falling rocks to a higher position, that *bleep* ain't gonna fly Legolas."

"I used to wish I was an elf when I was younger," Sayaka whispered just loud enough for Tom to hear.

Tom nudged her slightly. "I'm sure they'll have new VRs for that soon enough," he assured her quietly. "If it means anything, I think you'd make a cute one."

Twin puffs of smoke escaped Sayaka's ears as she ducked her head in embarrassment.

"Saya-chan?" Asuna questioned, seeing the girl's embarrassment. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing!" Sayaka yelped, discreetly kicking Tom's leg.

"Ah!" Tom yelped, hopping on a single foot as he nursed his leg. "Damn what was that for?"

Sayaka looked away with a blush. "I-I-I accidentally kicked too hard…"

Tom glowered at her for a moment before sighing. "Hey, Saya, close your eyes for a moment," he requested softly.

"Eh?" the black-haired girl wondered, but closed her eyes anyway.

Suddenly, she felt his hands on either side of her head as something soft pressed against her forehead and a feminine gasp was heard.

"Munyaaa?" she opened her eyes and froze as she realized Tom's face was right in front of hers. "Eh…?"

"Surprise," he whispered to her as he pulled away, a shit eating grin on his face.

Sayaka stared incredulously at him as she opened her mouth, closed it again and opened it again. No sound came out.

"Oh my, that's… that's _really_ bold," Asuna commented with wide starry eyes. "Are you two dating now?"

Sayaka's brain overloaded, her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she fainted right onto Tom's lap.

Tom blinked as he looked down at her before looking up at the others. "Huh, didn't expect _that_ to happen," he mused.

"So something did happen outside earlier… nishishishi~" Argo giggled.

"I will not say a word," he told the info broker. "And nothing on our status because I know how much col you make from that info."

"I charge 10 million col for information like this," Argo said plainly.

"Still not saying anything because there just are creeps like that," Tom pointed out. "Remember that rat faced guy? The one who was stalking Asuna?"

Asuna ducked behind Kirito and started looking hastily around the room, before her eyes settled on the door and she narrowed her eyes intently at it.

"Stop being paranoid, there's no one there…" Kirito calmly said.

Tom looked at Argo with a raised eyebrow. "My point exactly."

"Aa-chan is getting quite popular too…" Argo nodded.

"And _how_ many people think she and the [Black Swordsman] are a couple?" Tom asked. "I don't want Saya to get harassed because of this."

"W-W-We're not like that!" Asuna bleated out, ducking behind Kirito again. "We're just good friends, yes, good friends!"

"So you chose to hide behind him because?" Tom asked, grinning at the sight of Kirito's blushing face. "I seem to recall seeing you two being pretty… close when eating some cake."

"Wait, you were there!?" Asuna squawked.

"We saw you through the window as we passed by," Agil admitted with a shrug. "You two _were_ sitting pretty close together."

"It was just a two-seater table, we had no choice!" Asuna vehemently denied.

"In a half empty shot with three multi-seater tables," Argo commented with a wide grin. "Nishishishishi~"

"B-B-Besides, I barely even know Kirito-kun!" Asuna yelled, even as she began to repeatedly hit his back.

Kirito took the back hitting with a stoic face that was ruined by the blush on his face. "Ah, the princess and the pauper, a timeless tale," Tom said with a faux-wistful sigh.

"I don't even know what that story is!" Asuna moaned.

"It's an old love story about a princess and a poor beggar falling in love with one another," Agil explained, repressing his chuckles. "I have to say, you two fit the bill."

"As if!" Asuna shouted.

"Was I dreaming?" Sayaka whispered, apparently woken up by the commotion.

"Depends, what was the 'dream'?" Tom asked with a small grin.

"I dreamt that you kissed me… on… the…" Sayaka found herself unable to continue as a massive blush found its way onto her cheeks. "I wasn't dreaming, was I…"

"Nope," Tom confirmed, smiling broadly at her. "Want another one?"

Sayaka froze up and actually seemed to consider it for a moment. "N-No, that's enough for now…" she looked away.

Tom chuckled at her and gently brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Whatever you wish," he told her.

Suddenly Sayaka turned around and wrapped her arms around Tom, pulling herself up and aiming a kiss at his forehead.

Only… she missed and connected with his lips instead.

Tom's eyes widened in shock as their lips pressed together, the shock of the action caused them to remain in that position for several moments. ' _Her lips… they're… soft,_ ' an idle part of his mind noted.

"Ugyaaaa!" Sayaka's brain finally restarted as she let go and ducked away behind Asuna.

Tom remained where he was, blinking several times in rapid succession as he considered what happened. "That… was surprising," he admitted slowly. "And very much not unpleasant."

"F-F-Forget that ever happened!" Sayaka shrieked, clinging hard to Asuna's back. "A-Actually, don't forget it! Ugyaaaa! This is so embarrassing…"

"Was that your first kiss, Saya-chan?" Asuna asked cheerfully. "How was it?"

"Embarrassing," Sayaka whispered, burying her face in the brunette beauty's back.

Asuna giggled in response to her adoptive sister's embarrassment. "Oh this is just so adorable! Saya-chan's first kiss!" she squealed, glomping the blackette.

"I can't believe my first kiss had to be by accident…" Sayaka whimpered.

"If you want, we can consider that one to be null and void," Tom offered hopefully.

"That would help a lot… but first kisses don't work that way!" Sayaka yelled.

"You two could just practice some more," Kirito said teasingly, a wide grin on his face.

"Mugiiiiiii!"

Kirito immediately read the warning signs and dodged a flying Sayaka, who instead crashed right into Argo and chained right into her usual armbar.

"WHY ME!? HAWAWAWAWA!"

"Argo is a glutton for punishment, isn't she?" Agil asked in amusement as he watched the scene. "You think she'd learn to dodge."

"She did it after our fight with the Bulbous Bow, except she got hit with a follow-up attack, remember?" Kirito pointed out.

"So she's regressing," Asuna 'ahh'd' in realization. "That explains much."

"I WAS EXPECTING IT TO HIT KII-BOU! OWOWOWOWOW!"

"Slackness in one's guard, not very becoming of an info broker now is it?" Tom asked smugly. "If only I had a camera."

Argo growled from her position on the ground, before she suddenly had a brainwave. Bringing her free arm around, she began tickling Sayaka's thigh.

"What are yo- MUGIIIIIIIIIII!" Sayaka yelped as she hurriedly released Argo from the armbar and sprang back to her feet, scratching her itching thigh.

Argo flashed a 'V' sign as she climbed back up.

"And how many armbars did it take for her to learn that?" Tom asked the group. "Five, ten, three hundred?"

"Nine," Kirito sighed. "It was kind of funny while it lasted…"

"And Sayaka, that's why you switch your holds up," Tom called over to the pouting girl. "They always figure a way out."

"Mugyuu," Sayaka sulked.

"Try the Triangle Choke Hold next time," he told her. "Then she's too concerned about breathing."

"Do we even need to breathe in SAO?" Sayaka asked.

"I think Argo will find out soon enough," Kirito grinned with a sly look to the info broker.

"Like I said, stop teaching Sacchi martial arts techniques!" Argo demanded.

Tom hummed in thought as he rubbed his chin before suddenly smiling. "Nope!" he declared, dashing her hopes and dreams.

"Ugh…" Argo deflated, before she coughed once and changed the subject. "Anyway, I'm going to need help with this quest, so I'm conscripting you guys for it. Don't worry, the reward seems to be quite substantial."

"Alright, what's the quest?" Kirito asked curiously.

"Basically, we're supposed to go kill more Minotaurs in the Labyrinth," Argo sighed. "Kill them until they drop a quest item called 'Scouting Party's Report'."

"Simple enough, we could also be able to get some mapping done while we're at it," Agil observed. "And we got killing Minotaurs down to a form of art."

"I can farm more leather!" Sayaka smiled.

Tom suddenly coughed several times as a blush adorned his face. "Congrats?" he offered.

"D-Did you just imagine me in something like a leather bikini?" Sayaka narrowed her eyes, even as she backed away from Tom a few steps.

"Considering how your last 'reworking' project went?" Tom asked, his eyes darting over her honestly skimpy outfit.

"I-It couldn't be helped, there wasn't a lot I could do about that!" Sayaka blushed, covering her chest. "B-But if it's you… I might not mind… letting you see me in a leather bikini…"

Tom blinked several times as a hint of red colored his cheeks. "I cannot find it in myself to complain," he managed to get out before standing. "Well, don't want someone else to complete that quest, now do we?"

"No one else even knows about it," Argo sighed. "The quest giver's in a really out-of-the-way place that no one ever goes to."

"Still, no time like the present, chop chop everyone!" Tom declared, already moving in the direction of the Labyrinth.

* * *

 **Floor 2 Labyrinth**

* * *

"LEATHER! MORE LEATHER!"

"And there she goes," Tom sighed as he shook his head. "I _really_ need to either find a psychiatrist in this game, or sit her down and talk with her myself."

"Do you even _have_ psychiatric training?" Kirito asked skeptically.

Tom gave the black swordsman a bland look. "No, the only real training I have is from helping my mom study psychiatry when she was getting her Master's Degree."

"She's getting too enthusiastic about this," Asuna stared at the younger girl as she savaged a Minotaur with a series of cuts to its neck.

"Redirection of feelings into anger, rage and aggression," Tom muttered lowly. "She definitely has PTSD…"

"Eh? But I just want materials so I can grind my [Sewing] skill…" Sayaka blinked as she reappeared beside Tom.

Tom's head snapped to her as she appeared. "How did…?" he questioned before shaking his head. "Nevermind, and it's nothing to be ashamed of, after what's happened I'd be surprised if you _didn't_ have some kind of trouble."

Sayaka was about to say something, but then the group began to hear a low rumbling sound. "What's that?" He asked, as the party all glanced down the hall, as the rumbling began to get louder, and the ground began to shake as well. Soon, they could also hear the sound of multiple cows or bulls in the distance.

Kirito blinked. "The heck is-" He began to say, before running from out of one of the corners ran Ron, Dennis, Rossa and Lux, running as if hell were on their heels.

"RUN! *Bleep* IT! RUN!"

"WOMEN AND CHILDREN LAST!"

"STAMPEEEEEEEEEEDE!"

And then, following shortly after them was a massive hoard of bulls in a panicked stampede… and holding on for dear life on top of one of the bulls, was Jordan himself. "SOMEONE STOP THIS CRAZY THING!" He shouted, as the Bull bucked and charged with the others.

"Get behind me!" Tom roared as he pulled out his shield and sword before bracing himself, throwing his weight at the precise time to throw the lead [Stampeding Bull] off its feet, causing the rest of the mob to crash into it, falling over. "Swords up people!"

"On it!" Kirito called out, his [Anneal Blade] already out and swinging at the prone Bulls.

"*Bleep*!" Jordan shouted, as once the Bull he was riding on came to a stop - the momentum sent him flying overhead, and then crashing into a wall. "*BLEEP*ING BULL*BLEEP*"

"THAT'S IT! I HAVE HAD IT!" With a scream that didn't belong to a 290 pound man, (and everyone STILL wondered how he did that) Ron charged into the horde. "I HAVE HAD IT WITH THIS FUCKING GAME! I NEVER WANTED TO PLAY THIS FUCKING GAME, AND IF I HAD MY WAY, I'D BE PLAYING STAR TREK ARMADA INSTEAD! I! HATE! VIRTUAL! REALITY!"

"Kill now, complain later!" Asuna snapped authoritatively. "I am getting sick of it."

"SHOVE THAT RAPIER UP YOUR *Bleep*AND SNAP IT! THIS IS MY WAY OF VENTING!"

"Focus, Ronald," Tom snapped as he held back a bull with his shield as Sayaka tore it up from the flanks. 'You're the ones who dropped this mob on us."

"No, JORN did! We just got brought along for the ride!" The heavy scimitar hacked through one of the creature's heads, followed by a rough impalement through the following bull. "I need a better weapon."

"I DID JACK *Bleep*!" Jordan shouted, as he recovered and got back to his feet. "We attacked ONE Bull, I tried to climb on it and stab its back, and then a whole *bleep*ing STAMPEDE showed up! God this is why I HATED this Floor!"

"THAT'S IT! KILLING EVERYTHING!" A bull headbutted him and sent the heavy Canadian flying towards the closest wall, causing a fairly large dent in both his head and the rock face. "Oh, see the birdies."

"UWOOOO!" Agil shouted as he activated the [Roar] Aggro skill, drawing the attention of the Bulls moving to attack the prone Ron. "Someone get his white *Bleep* up!"

"Ron!" Jordan shouted as he pulled Ron back up to his feet, slapping his face. "Ron, get it together *Bleep*! We need you here and now, not in *bleep*ing La-la land!"

The large man shook his head, loosely gripping his Ottoman sword in his right hand. "Someone is going to die. It will not be me, it will not be you, but it WILL end in death." Ron shook Jordan's hands off him, then reentered the melee, though not as effectively as he would have been beforehand.

"More leather!" Sayaka yelled out, hamstringing a bull and causing it to topple over. "Drop more leather for my armour crafting!"

"Don't ask," Tom said as Jorn turned to him, his mouth open to ask him. "Just don't ask."

"... Okay… " Jordan said, "Well… at least she's not being emotionless… last thing we want in this game is a Rei Ayanami expy after all. So..." He drew out his throwing knives, "I'll take the dozen on the left, you take the dozen on the right, first one to clear their lot buys drinks?"

Tom grinned. "You found actual booze on this floor?" Tom asked hopefully.

"Well… technically yes, but it seems for minors it tastes like water." Jordan said shrugging, "I haven't tried it yet, Dennis did but… well, he didn't exactly like it - though that's probably because neither of us ever had beer, wine, or any of that kind of stuff IRL to begin with anyways."

Tom sighed. "So lucky, yet so ignorant…" he bemoaned. "All that time spent hunting, and I got nothing, and these two alcoholess heathens find some? Where is the justice in that."

Jordan rolled his eyes "We'll tell ya where we found it Ryu, then you can drink to your heart's content." He said, "For now, we've got bulls to kill. "

"FOR THE BOOZE!" Tom shouted in joy as he charged forward, unintentionally activating the [Roar] aggro skill.

"Booze?" Sayaka asked, appearing beside Tom again.

"Me and my party found some stuff like beer, whisky, sake, that kind of stuff around." Jordan answered, as he casually tossed Knives at the Bulls as most of them focused on the others. "In case you haven't noticed while being around him, Ryu is very… hmm, what's the word… _fanatic_ about alcohol."

"The proper word would be alcoholic Jor." Dennis said as blocked one of the bulls horns with his greatshield before stabbing his estoc on its head.

"Tom-san…" Asuna began glaring at Tom as she pulled Sayaka away.

"Not a fanatic, CANADIAN!" Tom shouted in return. "And I won't let her have any!"

"It wouldn't matter anyways!" Jordan replied, "Rossa and Lux had some, and they said the stuff tasted like plain water. Seems to be that way for Minors. Though for people in mine, Ryu's and Dennis's age group… well, as Dennis once claimed… it tastes like gasoline."

"Then he doesn't appreciate it," Tom declared. "Besides, beer is just a replacement until we can find the liquors."

"I _seriously_ don't see the difference," Jordan said, "It's all alcohol… " He reached for another knife, before he realized he was on his last few. "...save you for later." He unequipped the knives, before he pulled out his curved one-handed sword. "Alright, we're gonna be eating beef tonight ladies and gentlemen!" He leaped up into the air, and stabbed the first Bull he spotted clean in the head.

"We're almost through them!" Kirito shouted out over the din of battle, fighting back to back with Asuna and Sayaka. "Keep it up!"

"More leather!" Sayaka cheered, [Sprinting] into a jump and gripping her wakizashi tight under her, the blade pointing forward. Her momentum carried her over a bull, her weapon practically splitting it from head to tail as she flipped over onto its back and used the dying bull as a springboard to jump onto another bull's back.

Tom took a calming breath as he blocked several strikes before striking out with his sword, severing the heads of a couple bulls as he moved between them before smashing his shield into the head of another. "Who's next?" he questioned challengingly.

"MUGYAAAA!" Sayaka suddenly raced back past him in a hurry and ducked behind him.

"Saya?" Tom questioned turning his head to look around at her.

"B-B-B-Big minotaur…" Sayaka pointed a shaky finger back where she had been earlier.

Tom turned to face where she was pointing, before looking up, and up, and up. "Oh go *Bleep* yourself Kayaba," he cursed as a giant Minotaur stomped towards them, roaring loudly at the party. "Hey, Kirito, is that the boss?"

"No… at least not that I remember there being a boss like that… but he's actually quite similar to the original two…" Kirito whispered, readying his sword even as the boss's HP bars appeared… 6 of them.

"*Bleep*ing _wonderful,_ " Tom muttered sarcastically. "Let's scout these guys for now, be prepared to use your [Teleport Crystal]s at a moments notice!"

The boss roared, even as it raised its hammer - and it was a damn huge one almost half the size of its own body! The words 'Asterius the Taurus King' appeared floating over its head, finally revealing to the group that it was most definitely no ordinary boss…

"Um, Kirito-kun… doesn't he look like a floor boss?" Asuna asked hesitantly.

"I can see a pattern here…" Kirito's eyes widened. "The two bosses on this floor are called Baran the General Taurus and Nato the Colonel Taurus. This guy's called Asterius the _Taurus King_ …"

"*Bleep*," Tom cursed. "Agil, Dennis, we're tanking! Kirito, take Asuna, Sayaka and Ron and damage him as much as possible, everyone else, keep these Bulls off us.

"Jesus Christ this thing looks like a bigger version of the Taurus Demon boss from _Dark Souls_!" Dennis shouted as he joined Tom and Agil with his greatshield ready.

"Why is the floor boss roaming the labyrinth!?" Agil groaned, raising his axe.

"Watch out for when it raises the hammer skyward and pauses in mid-air for a moment!" Kirito warned, running forward. "That's when it's going to use Numbing Detonation, its AoE stun skill! Whatever you do, don't get hit by the sparks it gives off upon impact!"

"Roger!" everyone shouted in unison as they moved to complete their jobs.

"We're not here to beat him!" Tom called out. "Scout him and his abilities out, that's all we're doing!"

"So we run after we scout him out?" Sayaka asked.

"Exactly!" Kirito confirmed. "We can't beat the boss as we are, we need a full and proper raid for it."

"This could be like one of those missions in other RPGs where we only need to repel the boss anyway!" Argo shouted out as she dashed towards the other Bulls. "He's appearing outside his normal zone after all!"

"Who knows," Tom returned. "Just fight for now, here he comes, activate aggro!"

"*Bleep* You Kayaba you *bleep*ing mother*bleep*ing piece of *bleep* *Bleep*!" Jordan shouted, as he focused on the smaller mobs as Dennis, Agil and Ryu proceeded to tank on through towards the Boss. "We aren't READY for this crap!"

"Suck it up, this is a perfect opportunity!" Tom shouted. "Argo, could this be happening because of the Quest we took?"

"It's possible!" Argo yelled.

Tom let out a grunt as the Boss' hammer collided with his shield, sending him sliding back a bit. "Goddamn that fucking hurt!" Tom cursed as he quickly downed a Health Pot. "Tell me we are doing damage!"

"We are! Very little!" Kirito said as his sword cut into the boss's flank.

"So high defenses," Tom muttered as he dodged a second swing from the boss. "Watch out, he's raising his hammer!"

Asterius had his hammer raised skywards, even as he paused for a moment and yellow sparks began flying off the hammer's striking end.

"Dodge now!" Kirito ordered.

The tank group leapt back from the boss as the hammer came crashing down, the sparks flying all over the place, one of them impacting against Tom's thigh. "*Bleep*!" he cursed as his movement arrested.

"Tom-kun!" Sayaka yelled out, running in front of Tom as the hammer came around for a second pass. She ducked low and held her wakizashi at a slant, reinforcing it with her other hand to attempt to parry the blow.

It still sent her flying anyway.

Tom managed to regain his feet, standing protectively in front of the teen girl. "You want at her you *Bleeping* piece of *Bleep*," he growled out, holding his shield at the ready. "Go through me first, if you have the *Bleep*ing *Bleep*."

Sayaka was scrambling to open up her inventory to grab a potion - her health was deep in the yellow zone from the single hit she had taken.

"It's a tank. A Tiger, if I may say so. Maybe a Ratte. That thing was just as ridiculous."

"Kirito-kun, did it have a weak point in the Beta?" Asuna asked as she launched a rapid flurry of [Linear]s at the boss monster.

"This monster never appeared in the beta test!" Kirito shouted. "But if its similarity to Baran and Nato is anything to go by, aiming for the horns should stagger it more easily!"

"Easier said than done!" Agil shouted as he rolled out of the way of the boss's hammer.

"Kirito, want to retry what you did for the Field Boss?" Tom questioned as he covered Sayaka.

"He's too big! I'll need to do better than use Sword Skills in the air!" Kirito rolled forward under the hammer and scored a few clean hits on the legs before he was forced to back off.

Agil grunted as he lifted his large axe in time to block the Boss' swing, although he was still sent tumbling back from the blow. "We can't keep this up, and it would be no different with a Raid group!" he shouted. "Can we trip him up?"

"How the flying *Beep* are we going to trip him!? Its legs are the size of a bus!" Dennis said as he tried some stab attacks on said legs before the taurus swung its hammer toward him. At the last moment Dennis was able to bring his shield up but was still push back several feet as he grunted in pain.

"Gah! Tom wasn't wrong about that damn swing. Hurts like a bitch!" Dennis said as he tried to gain his ground again before noting a small flashing icon on his shield.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" Dennis said angrily

"What's wrong!?" Jordan shouted as kept throwing his knives at the boss.

"That single swing cut almost half of the durability of my shield. If he hits it one more time it's going to break!" Dennis said as he looked at Tom's shield. "Ryu how's yours looking after your own blow?"

"Just fine actually," Tom assured with a grin after quickly checking it's durability. "My [Sentinel's Shield] is way more durable than _that_ flimsy thing you have!"

"Will you two stop with the-" The boss smacked the other Canadian aside, breaking his kilij in the process. "DAMN IT, I NEED A NEW WEAPON!"

Tom quickly opened his menu and summoned a spare one handed iron longsword. "Ron, catch!" he shouted as he threw the spare sword to his fellow Canadian.

Ron caught the weapon, understandably pissed off. "That's it, asshole! I LIKED that sword! And YOU ARE PAYIN' FOR IT!"

Tom glanced up at the Boss' health bar and cursed at the minimal damage done to it. "We need a new strategy, _anyone_ got _any_ ideas?" he asked desperately.

"Can't use anything environmental, unless someone wants to play matador and shove his head into a wall or fifty?"

"I think Ron might be on to something. Does he charge like the bulbous bow when he gets pissed also? We can probably make him charge into one of the walls and let the other speed demons climb on its neck and stab the hell out of it." Dennis suggested.

"He doesn't!" Kirito quickly supplied.

"LEATHER!" Sayaka dove back into the fray, her health fully recovered as she aimed for the hamstrings as per her usual tactics.

Tom panted as he kept his Aggro skill active. "So… flying by the seats of our pants, huh?" he asked depressingly.

"It's all we can do to stay alive!" Asuna shouted out, jabbing her rapier into the boss's arm with a single Linear before backing off.

"At least we're doing _some_ damage!" Agil shouted as he notice the Boss' first health bar reach a quarter of a bar. "We must be nearing the [Event] trigger soon, right?"

"Hopefully yes!" Jordan shouted, as he sliced off the head of another Bull mob. "This *bleep* never happened in the Beta when we played!"

"Well this isn't the Beta so get over it!" Tom shouted angrily as he mentally thanked the [Cardinal System] for his shields nearly absurd durability as he blocked another hammer swing.

Asterius roared out loud after being brought to its knees by Sayaka's constant attacks to its hamstrings, but it didn't close its mouth after the roar. Instead, yellow sparks began to gather in its mouth as it aimed an apparent attack at the group…

"Oh… *Bleep*," Tom breathed. "Everyone! MOVE!"

Several bolts of lightning strafed the group in the instant it took for the boss to unleash its lightning breath attack. When the smoke cleared, only Tom was standing in the blast zone, an ominous yellow indicator with a lightning bolt blinking in the corner of his HUD.

"Tom-kun!" Sayaka shouted out.

"Can't… move…" Tom struggled to even speak, trying to move as the Boss raised its hammer up high. "Get… out… of… here."

"No!" Sayaka yelled, rushing forward.

The hammer fell.

Tom's frozen body hit the ground as Sayaka was sent flying once again with a loud scream, her health dropping dangerously into the red zone.

"SAYA!" Tom roared as he began to force himself to move from his prone position. "Someone get to her!" he all but commanded as he slowly dragged himself towards her.

"O-on it!" Asuna called out, shaking herself out of her shock as she pulled out a Health Pot for the girl.

"Ow…" Sayaka moaned, struggling to her feet from where she had been thrown against a wall. Her left arm was bent the wrong way around. "That hurt…"

"Saya-chan, sit still," Asuna told her as she ran up to her. "Drink the Health Pot… but… I'm not sure if it will fix your arm though…"

"This feels really weird," Sayaka muttered, flapping the broken arm around. "S-Shouldn't it be hurting?"

"The NerveGear mutes the pain, remember," Asuna explained as she looked at the arm nervously, before holding out a Health Pot. "Here, drink this."

"R-Right…" the girl nodded slowly as she took the flask and downed it in one go. "Why do SAO health pots have to heal over time instead of the normal way…?" she grumbled.

"Who knows," Asuna grimaced as she looked over, seeing that Tom managed to make his way to them.

"We may need to set that," Tom muttered as he looked Sayaka over, before meeting her eyes. "Why did you do something so foolish, Saya?"

"I… I didn't want you to get hit…" Sayaka looked down shamefully. "My-My body just reacted by itself…"

"Saya… listen… I'm your shield, okay?" he explained. "I told you… you will escape, no matter what."

"But I don't want to escape without you, Tom-kun!" Sayaka cried out, enveloping him in an awkward one-and-a-half armed hug. "It's not fair!"

Tom smiled down at her as he, with great effort, put his arms around her. "Thank you, Saya, but…" he bit his tongue as he looked around. "We can talk about this, back in town, alright?"

"Mugyuu. Fine," Sayaka sighed, looking back up at the boss as she gripped her sword in her right hand. "At least I can still fight…"

Tom placed a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from standing up to engage. "Not with your arm like that," he told her, grimacing as he looked at his status bar. "Sorry, Asuna, looks like I'm out for the rest of the battle, but… I can help set Sayaka's arm, it doesn't seem to be fixing itself."

"But it's not like I'm using my left arm much!" Sayaka protested.

"We still need to set it, we don't know if the [Cardinal System] has some kind of infection system or anything like that," Tom countered as he moved into position on her left arm. "I'd rather not find out like this."

"It's not going to hurt, right?" the black-haired girl asked hesitantly.

Tom let out sigh. "In real life, it would… a lot," he admitted. "I had my leg set once, _very_ painful, but in the game… not to sure to be honest," he held out a cloth wrapped handle to her. "Bite down on this, Asuna, I need you to keep her still and braced against the wall."

"Right!" Asuna quickly obliged, firmly but gently holding Sayaka back against the wall.

Sayaka herself was looking very apprehensive as she took the handle and bit down on it.

"I'll be doing it on three," Tom told her. "One… Two…" without even counting to three he suddenly wrenched Sayaka's broken arm snapping it back into place.

Sayaka blinked and waved the arm around a little as she took out the handle in her mouth. "It didn't hurt," she muttered.

Tom sighed in response. "Good," he responded as he smiled at her. "Go ahead and get back to the fight, Asuna, Saya and I can handle any Adds that come after us."

Asuna hesitated for a moment as she looked at Sayaka. Her surrogate sister just nodded as she stood up, gripping her wakizashi. "We'll be fine, Asuna-nee," she reassured.

"If you say so…" Asuna nodded slowly, standing up and looking back towards where Kirito was attacking the boss.

"Goddammit Asuna they said they're fine! Come back already, more adds are coming!" Rossa said as she blocked an axe swing from one with her small round shield and then thrusted her spear at its throat.

"Alright I'm coming! Be careful, you two!" The redhead said before charging towards a mob. She joined Rossa and lux forming a small circle as the three females tried to ward off the mob around them.

"Lux how's your health looking?" The lilac haired girl questioned

"It's still green, but what are we going to with them?" The blonde said with worry as she dodge an attack and killed a minotaur with a few quick stabs with her own rapier.

"We bait them one at a time like Dennis said then we killed them when they're opened. Asuna, how's your health doing?"

"It's fine,"Asuna said as she quickly glanced at how Tom and Saya was doing.

"Don't get distracted! Focus on these things now. If you want to be of help to them make sure these mob is dead first so they don't try to attack them while they're vulnerable." Rossa commanded with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"Okay, okay!"Asuna said as she made a quick succession of stabs at an incoming minotaur before it finally died.

Meanwhile Agil and Dennis was struggling against Asterius with barely avoiding the swings and feet stomps from the giant minotaur.

"This is getting real bad!" Agil said as he swung his ax at the leg and rolled away to avoid the hammer swing from the boss.

"Gee, you think!?" Dennis said as he tried some more stab attacks from his estoc before backing away.

"Glad to see you're still able to be sarcastic despite the situation, fatty, but how are we going to still fend him off by ourselves without Ryu!? We could barely do any enough damage to him with just the three of us let alone just you and me!"

"We keep on swinging and slashing until the retreat order is called!" Dennis said just before Asterius tried one more hammer swing at him. Instinctively he used his shield again to reduce the damage. It pushed him a few feet while Dennis held firm on his shield before it finally shattered into several polygon data.

"PUTA MADRE!(motherfucker)" Dennis cursed angrily.

"*Beep* there goes your shield! Dammit we need Ryu."

"Screw Ryu! We can do this." Dennis said before he wide eyed at realization. "Agil give me a few seconds, I got an idea." Dennis said as he pulled out his inventory.

"On it. Better be a damn good idea." Agil said as he tried to aggro the boss.

"If not, we are screwed either way." Dennis said as he pulled out a large claymore sword, the blade being broken up by a grip in the center of the blade that he grabbed hold of with his left hand and held the the blade in a horizontal position. He eyed the ankle of the minotaur before he [Sprinted], aiming a thrust attack on it.

The swing struck true as Asterius roared in pain from the wound staggering away from the player with a very noticeable limp, favoring it's uninjured leg. "It's off balance!" Tom shouted from the sidelines. "Everyone, hit it now!"

"Holy *bleep*, it worked!" Dennis said joyously, charging in for another thrust.

With just slivers of green left on its first health bar, the whole group bar the ones dealing with the adds rushed in for the kill.

"I'M GOING TO shove this *Bleep*ING SWORD UP YOUR *Bleep* UNTIL IT BECOMES YOUR TONGUE!" Ron shouted as he activated the [Sonic Leap] Sword skill to jam his sword into the boss' opposite leg.

"Switch!" Asuna commanded the Canadian as she charged in, a [Linear] Skill already primed as she struck the exact same spot as him with a rapid flurry of precision strikes.

"And to finish!" Agil whooped out as he ran up, jumping into a spin as he gained momentum, activating the [Smash] Two Handed Axe Skill as he did so, driving a devastating blow into the boss' knee.

"Mugyuu. I want to whack the boss too…" Sayaka grumbled, her wakizashi tracing a red line across a bull's flank as she [Sprinted] past it.

Tom panted as he moved in and beheaded the bull as it recoiled from Sayaka's strike. "Well, I need someone to watch my back, damn, this paralysis is _still_ affecting me," he groaned. "My entire body feels stiff."

Sayaka dove in with a [Sprint], hamstringing a bull that had been about to charge Tom's back. "Umm, if you can kill 3 more bulls, I'll reward you with a kiss on your lips later?" she suggested with a blush.

Tom chuckled as he moved, slashing at the bull's neck to behead it before slamming his shield into the face of another bull before linking a spinal stab into the combo. "I'll hold you to it, Saya," he told her mischievously.

Sayaka froze for a moment, but she shook it off as another bull approached them. "But if I kill 3 more bulls before you do, you're taking me out on an all-expenses-paid date!" she quickly declared, jumping up into the air, and spinning on the way down to give her attack more torque before decapitating the bull with a powerful downwards slash.

Tom chuckled in response. "And how is that exactly fair, when all I get is a kiss?" he questioned good naturedly, sidestepping a bull as he severed a leg before swinging his blade up, gutting it. "Shouldn't the bet be equal, oh, I'm in the lead by the way."

"It's fair because I say it is!" Sayaka countered, the mirth in her tone evident as she cut the legs out from under a bull and delivered the killing blow with a slash across the throat. "Or… is a kiss from your potential wife not worth a date?" she looked down at the ground sadly.

Tom literally feel flat onto his face at her question, recovering himself to stare at her with a flummoxed expression. "I… I honestly have no response to that," he admitted. "Other than… it is?"

"It is most definitely worth a date!" Sayaka declared as she got into the face of another bull before her wakizashi lashed out and dealt a clean slash across its eyes. Another slash to the neck relieved it of its head, scoring her third kill and winning the bet.

Tom groaned in response. "This is going to be pricey, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "That was on purpose, wasn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about~" Sayaka sang in a faux-innocent tone.

Tom narrowed his eyes at her. "Yes, yes you do," he countered, his eyes turning to the fighting Asuna. "And I think I know who taught you."

"She didn't," Sayaka shook her head with a smile. "I just came up with it."

Tom turned his gaze back to her. "I'll get my payback… eventually," he told her with an ominous smile.

"What if… I let you kiss me on the lips as payback?" Sayaka suggested, clasping her hands behind her as she stood in front of Tom, leaning forward just slightly. "Or… do you want to do something a bit more perverted?"

Tom sighed and stepping in close, clasping her chin lightly. "Sayaka, right now, all I will take, is what you are willing to give," he whispered, before he suddenly swept her up in his arms and rolled out of the way of a charging bull. "Plus this _really_ isn't the place for that!"

"Mugyuu," Sayaka relented, looking down at her chest… where a warm hand was resting on it. "You seem to really like touching my chest though… even though you're saying that this isn't the place to do this."

Tom snapped his hand away, looking at it accusingly. "Why do you do this to me?" he questioned his hand. "Seriously, did my mother make a pact with a succubus or something?"

Sayaka giggled, a light, tinkling laughter that seemed to wash away Tom's worries in that single moment. "Well, if we do end up together… you can touch them… all you want…" she blushed as he set her down.

Tom smiled at her, shaking his head softly. "And I'll try to keep my succubus-possessed hand from being too grabby," he told her jokingly, winking at her.

Sayaka smiled back, pulling Tom aside so that another charging bull barely just grazed his side with its horns. "Well, you know I was always… um… planning on giving you that kiss regardless of the outcome of the bet, right?"

Tom flashed her a grin as he stuck out a foot, causing the passing bull to collapse onto the ground near them, allowing for Sayaka to drive her wakizashi into its head. "Well, kisses often _do_ come with dates," he agreed.

"You've regained your mobility now, right?" Sayaka asked.

Tom bounced lightly on his toes to test his balance. "I'd say enough to be helpful," he affirmed. "Still a bit stiff, but it's at a level I can handle."

"Well, you get that kiss after you completely regain it," Sayaka smirked, dodging around a bull although it put Tom right in the path of its charge. "Oops."

Tom let out a breath as his entire body relaxed, ducking down and used his shield to aid him as he threw the bull over him. "I am a Matador!" he called out as he leapt up and rammed his sword into the prone bull.

"Stop acting cool, Ryu-san!" Kirito yelled out from where he was attacking Asterius.

Sayaka giggled again.

"Unlike you, I don't _need_ to act!" Tom shouted back, stepping up next to Sayaka and looked over to her. "Shall we finish this?"

"We're pretty much already done though…" Sayaka scanned their surroundings. Only one bull was left.

Tom shrugged. "Still though, you go high, I go low?" he questioned.

"Right!" Sayaka nodded enthusiastically.

Tom charged in, moving low as he held his sword at the ready, swinging hard for the Bull's legs as Sayaka used his back as a springboard to leap into the air above the bull, putting her in the prime position to ram her sword into it.

A horn suddenly rang out just as Sayaka's wakizashi jammed into the bull's head, although it shattered in the next moment and she flew right over it with a loud squawk of surprise.

Tom quickly moved between her prone form and the boss who had blown the horn as the last bull died. "What now?" the Canadian groaned.

The boss suddenly backed off from the group of people attacking it, who stood their ground apprehensively in preparation for anything else that would happen afterwards. Asterius let out a loud roar and snorted once, scanning the group before taking a few more steps backwards and turning around.

"Is… he retreating?" Agil asked in shock. "Did… did we actually manage that?"

The boss began walking away at a good pace, completely leaving the battlefield.

"Holy *Bleep*," Tom muttered. "We actually did it, we did it!"

"Although we only drove it away…" Kirito wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. "We'll have to fight him again during the boss battle…"

"At least we got data on his attacking pattern," Argo said with a nod. "Plus, the quest is completed."

"Rangers, mount up!" Jordan shouted, as he put his sword away. "We're following him back to the boss room and confirm its location. Once we do that we're RTB." He glanced at Tom. "Always good working with ya, Ryu… and thanks for the hand with the bulls."

"Yeah," Tom nodded. "Well start gathering a Raid group tomorrow, see you around Jorn."

Ron tossed the spare blade back to Tom, grumbling about needing a new weapon.

Tom shrugged as he caught the blade, placing it in his inventory and looked at the party. "Shall we wrap up this quest?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My wakizashi…" Sayaka mumbled, holding up the grip of her shattered weapon. Even that shattered into polygons soon enough.

"Well… damn," Tom muttered, scratching the back of his head. "It must have been that last attack."

Sayaka's posture sagged. "And that was the first one you got for me too…" she whispered sadly.

Tom smiled at her as he patted her head assuringly. "Was there an item drop for it's broken form?" he asked.

The black-haired girl shook her head.

"Sorry," he whispered to her as he gently kissed her forehead. "How about I forge you a completely new one, I think my skill is high enough now."

She shook her head. "Make me a katana," she said, opening up her menu, navigating to her skills and making it visible so Tom could see it.

"You got the [Katana] Extra Skill?" Tom asked in surprise as he looked at her skills. "When was it unlocked?"

"Just now, the moment I broke the wakizashi…" she said, smiling a little bit.

"How in the world does that work?" Agil asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Who knows," Tom replied as he navigated his own skill menu. "I think I can manage a Katana," he reached out a patted Sayaka's head. "I'll put my very soul into it."

"Don't put too much of it in, I don't want to feel like I'm carrying a ghost around with me," Sayaka replied jokingly.

"Ah, don't worry, it's the _good_ kind of haunting," Tom replied as the party started towards the Labyrinth's exit. "So, any specific requests for it?"

"Sephiroth length!" Sayaka cheered.

"I'll… do my best?" Tom offered hesitantly. "It… may not be possible at the moment."

"Mugyuu."

"There's just something wrong with that image of a girl swinging around a katana three times as long as she's tall…" Kirito muttered.

"It definitely is an… interesting mental image," Asuna agreed, stifling a giggle. "Maybe Saya-chan is compensating for something?"

"I don't think she needs to compensate for anything…" Argo mimed hefting her chest (which she didn't have much of, incidentally).

"I think Argo's jealous," Tom stage whispered to Sayaka. "Why else would she obsess that much over them."

"Nishishishi~ Like I said, I don't need them that big," Argo said unrepentantly.

Tom chuckled as he shook his head. "Since I'll be busy tonight working on Saya's Katana, anyone else have any weapons they need forged?" he questioned.

"Yeah, me. I could use a new weapon. ANY weapon, as I'm useless without one," Ron spoke up, having split off from his regular party due to his lack of weapons.

"Alright, I'll forge something then," Tom agreed with a sigh. "Anything in particular?"

"Another kilij would be nice. If not, anything will do. I'm not going to be picky. I'll be picky when I get my own skill up."

"Alright then, I'll do my best for it," Tom nodded as he yawned. "I miss caffeine."

"I miss moving my actual limbs. this isn't good enough. I'll wait until you're done before doing… anything, really. I need to get a fucking backup."

"I'll forge two for you," Tom assured. "And yes, you do, at least I have my Hand-to-Hand to fall back on."

"I'd chain hand-to-hand if the game would let me. That's something I can do in real life. Thanks for the help. I'm going to go get rid of my headache." The larger Canadian walked off, not happy about his situation.

"You _can_ chain hand-to-hand," Tom said to him with an odd look. "You never actually tried?"

"I presumed you needed the skill. This game isn't exactly cooperative: at least tutorials in OTHER games would have informed me. I didn't get shit here. I'm going to kill my brother when I get out. I'll see you later."

"See ya then," Tom waved absently as he followed his party towards the town.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - With Jordan's group.**

* * *

"We sure this is it?" Rossa asked, as the group stood before a massive set of double doors with the engravings of minotaurs and giant bulls upon it.

"Yeah, pretty sure this is it." Jordan said accessing his map. "Alright, we've got the map to the floor boss… time we head back, and continue with the grind."

"Yeah..." Lux said nodding, "Considering how tough the last boss was, the next one must be even harder."

"That's usually how games go," Dennis commented while shrugging, "Each level gets harder and harder the more you go… assuming the game designers didn't mess things up."

"With the Cardinal System in play, that's unlikely to happen." Jordan said. "It takes feedback from the players directly, as well as accessing new ideas straight from the internet. We can almost guarantee each floor boss is going to be more dangerous than the last… "

"Well at least it doesn't follow _Dark Souls_ logic. If it did my guess would be that we would be fighting those two other giant bulls together like the boss fight Ornstein and Smough." Dennis said

"God that would suck. By the way how did you figure out to hurt Asterius like that? I never seen a skill like that?"

"It isn't a skill, it's a real life move back in medieval times. It's called half-swording, which is a technique that germans made to kill steel plated knights easier. I figured with his thick skin it would be no different but I aimed at the ankle just to do be sure."

"Whoa that's pretty cool but how did you know about that?" Jordan asked

"Well I did some research on medieval combat and armor so I could get a better edge in the game. Never thought it would actually work. By the way there is another move in half-swording where you could use a large sword as a war hammer." Dennis said

"Wait how?"

"Well you know how big swords like claymores and Zweihanders got cross guards? Well you can flip the sword over and start whacking enemies causing the same effect as maces and hammers. But man, if I were to get my hands on that Zweihander I would be decapitating so many heads with it and using its ten pound weight for that technique." Dennis said as he fantasize the giant sword.

Jordan shook his head. "You play Dark Souls way too damn much, Dennis…" he said. "Come on, people, we've got the boss room - we need to head back and inform the others."

* * *

 **Urbus, Tom's Inn Room**

* * *

Tom frowned as he focused on the [Dense Iron Ingot] he was holding as he raised up a [Smithing Hammer] and began to hammer it, keeping an image of an Odachi in his head - the type of Katana that Sayaka wanted to use. After a few moments of hammering he let out a small curse as a failure message popped up before him.

Dismissing the popup he pulled out a new [Dense Iron Ingot] before repicturing the Odachi in his head and began hammering, making his tenth attempt at the weapon whose failure rate was slated at 76% chance of failure.

"That's 10,000 Col down the drain now," he muttered to himself, the total price he could have sold the ten [Dense Iron Ingots] for. "Come on, work damn you."

After a few more hits the ingot glowed as it changed shape on the anvil he was working with, morphing into an Odachi.

Tom blinked as it was completed before his eyes, a pair of popups appearing before him, one being a box with the name of the sword and its stats, and the second as a notification of a new skill. [Katana Weapon Forging], giving him a bonus to success and bonus stats to successful forgings.

Grinning he let out a small laugh. "I am the best," he sang to himself softly, mimicking a certain internet character. "Now, let's see your stats." he mumbled to himself. "Two handed weapon, lighter than a regular [Two-Handed Sword], [Slashing] damage type, stats are… on par with a [Dense Iron Greatsword], not bad over all really," he looked up at the Sword's name, [Dense Iron Odachi]. "What a plain name, they need a naming system in this."

"Hey, Saya!" Tom shouted as he entered the hall, moving to Kirito's Room where the rest of the party was hanging out. "Your sword is ready!"

"Eh!?" Sayaka immediately sprang to her feet and ran over to Tom. "I wanna see it, I wanna see it!"

Tom held out the Odachi. "Saya, meet your Odachi," he declared. "It's the closest I can get to Sephiroth's sword, at the moment anyways."

"Yay!" Sayaka cheered as she took the weapon… and almost fell flat on her face from the unexpectedly heavy weapon. "H-Heavy…" she groaned from the floor, still holding onto the odachi.

Tom chuckled as he gripped the weapon and lifted it, and her up. "Looks like you need to up your STR stats," Kirito commented from the table where it looked like they were playing a card game.

"Mugyuuuuu…"

"Well it's a good thing I planned for that," Tom commented as he pulled out another weapon, an [Iron Katana]. "This should tide you over for now, right?"

Sayaka hesitantly reached out for the new weapon, and was relieved when Tom let go of it and it didn't cause her to fall flat again. Checking her surroundings first, she gave it a few test swings. "Feels a little heavy…?" she muttered. "Maybe I need to get it enhanced for lightness…"

"I'll give it a shot," Tom agreed. "Plus, I also ended up getting a new [Extra Skill] when I finished the Odachi."

"[Katana Weapon Forging], right?" Kirito leaned back. "The forging process for a katana is complicated enough that you need a specialized forging skill just to get the better ones."

Tom nodded as he set up for the weapon improvement process. "It improves success rates and adds bonus' to the stats when successful," he told him. "Might have something else at higher levels."

"It wasn't an [Extra Skill] back in the closed beta," Kirito explained. "But so many people ended up using [Katanas] that Kayaba Akihiko probably decided to make getting the skill a lot harder."

"Well, katanas are too famous in Japan after all…" Asuna nodded.

"Not just Japan," Agil chuckled. "I think anyone with an internet connection knows what Katanas are."

"Too famous," Kirito sighed. "The beta testers were in a bit of a fuss over it, but they couldn't do anything about it in the end."

Tom shrugged as he began to work on improving Sayaka's Katana. "In all honesty, while the Katana _is_ cool, I actually prefer the European Longsword."

"What's the difference between a katana and other Western straight swords anyway?" Asuna asked.

"Weight and forging process, mostly," Tom explained. "Outside of the obvious visual difference, Katanas are more for precision and speed, while the longsword is for heavy slashes and smashing armor."

"Katanas also hold their edges better than the longsword because of the folding process that makes the metal stronger," Kirito lectured - the others could almost imagine him wearing glasses and standing at a lectern. "If maintained properly they can hold it for decades of use without needing to be resharpened."

"But in return the edge is fragile for a sword," Tom continued - seeming to give off a much more relaxed image to Kirito's. "Longswords are durable when forged properly and rarely break."

"It's a fair tradeoff, katanas cut better than almost every other sword in the world," Kirito nodded.

"True," Tom admitted as he finished the upgrade. "Alright, [Lightness] has been enhanced, how's this, Saya?"

Sayaka took the weapon and gave it a swing. "Much better," she smiled.

Tom nodded in acceptance as he put away the smithing gear. "So, you guys know how to play poker at all?" he asked as he joined the rest at the table.

"Um, Tom-kun… you still need to trade it to me before I can take ownership of it," Sayaka spoke up as she attempted to put the weapon into her inventory and failed.

"Hm? Oh, right," he quickly opened up the trade menu and put both the Katana and Odachi in. "There, for when you up your STR enough,"

Sayaka checked the requirements and heaved a sigh of relief. "I can make it in another level," she grinned.

Tom grinned in response. "Good to hear that my efforts aren't going to waste," he commented. "Hmm… I wonder how much I can sell a Katana at an Auction?"

"A real life one, probably millions if you actually forged it by hand," Argo helpfully supplied.

Tom gave her a dry look. "I know _that_ , authentic hand forged Katanas are a rare thing these days," he pointed out. "I mean in this game, it could be a decent source of income."

"Depends on the demand then," Argo said. "Remember, the [Katana] skill is an [Extra Skill] now, a lot of people won't have it."

"But, there is also the fact that without the [Katana Weapon Forging] Katana weapons are extremely hard to forge," Kirito pointed out. "Especially with the stat bonus' to it."

"Well, for a small fee I'd be willing to spread word around about your katana forging ability…" Argo grinned, holding out an open palm.

Tom hummed in response, looking at her warily. "Five percent commission," he offered.

"Deal," Argo nodded. "You know… I was only going to ask for 500 col and not a commission… Nishishishi~"

Tom shrugged. "It'll be incentive for you to do your best with it," he told her. "After all, the more customers I get, the more you get paid."

"Well, it doesn't take much to spread it around, so it's easy money, Terryu," Argo grinned.

Tom chuckled and shrugged again. "So, what are we playing?" he asked, looking at the cards.

Agil held up a card with a red 'Draw Two' on it.

Tom blinked. "They have Uno in SAO?" he asked incredulously.

"As well as half a dozen other card games, and even Monopoly," Agil grinned. "For a pretty small price."

"They weren't in here during the beta, so it's probably something Kayaba Akihiko added on the side," Kirito grumbled as he watched Agil throw down the card. "Argh, I don't have a Draw 2."

"Huh…" Tom hummed in thought. "Any of you know how to play poker?"

"Nope," Sayaka scrambled back to her place in the circle of Uno players. "Draw 2!" she grinned, putting down another red Draw 2 card.

"Draw 2 more," Asuna put down a blue one.

"Another 2 more! Nishishishi~" Argo didn't miss the look of dread on Kirito's face.

"Draw 4!" Agil dealt the coup de grace with a victorious shout.

"DAMMIT!"

"Wow Kirito… I think you have half the deck in your hands," Tom commented, stifling his laughter. "Sure you don't need more?"

"You can have half my cards, shut up," Kirito grumbled, trying to sort the massive number of cards in his hand out.

Tom snorted and reached over and pulled out half the cards in his hand and quickly sorted them. "Draw Four," he declared dropping the card.

"Mugiiiii!" Sayaka squeaked, turning to face him with an annoyed look. "Go sit down on Kirito's other side before playing that card!"

Tom chuckled. "Hey, someone has to take pity on the pretty boy here," he told her. "Just be glad we're _not_ playing poker, devil's luck combined with a stone face, wins everytime."

Sayaka's eyebrow twitched as she drew four cards and sat back down with folded arms. "Meanie."

Tom chuckled in response as he reached over to ruffle her hair. "Don't worry too much about it," he told her. "After all, you can project it onto Asuna next to you."

Asuna raised an eyebrow as she watched Sayaka put down her next card - a yellow Draw 2.

"Draw 2 more," she repeated with a smirk, placing a green one on top of the stack.

Sayaka looked back at Tom with a betrayed look. "She always does that when I try!"

Tom grinned. "Well that's just too bad then," he teased as Argo, and then Agil placed down more Draw 2s on top of that one.

"GODDAMMIT! NOT AGAIN!"

Sayaka giggled.

"Or you can just project it to Kirito," Tom amended, chuckling at Kirito's despair. "That works too."

"He's never going to finish," Sayaka snickered.

"Not likely," Agil agreed as Kirito finally organized his cards and placed a Draw 4 down, calling out 'red', leading Tom to mimic it.

"You definitely have a different card that can be played!" Sayaka challenged.

"Who?" Tom asked in confusion. "Me or him, cause it's been like… ten years since I played."

"Both of you!" she yelled.

Tom blinked. "Oh, I guess I do have the same colored card," he muttered as he quickly replaced it.

"It doesn't work like that!" Sayaka groaned, grabbing four cards off the top of the pile and sticking them into Tom's hand without looking at them. "If you get caught doing that, you need to draw 4 yourself!"

Kirito grumbled as he added four more cards to his hand.

Tom chuckled as we in response. "So competitive," he said teasingly. "What, got something riding on this game?"

"If Asuna finishes before I do, I have to treat her to a super-expensive cake," the beta tester groaned.

Tom chuckled as he looked over to the widely grinning Asuna who only had two cards left in her hand, and then back over to the morose Kirito who held half the deck. "Do yourself a favor pretty boy, never try and get between a girl and her sweets," Tom advised sagely. "Especially during _that_ period of the month," he held up a hand to forestall the girls' retort. "Not that I'm saying it is."

"I'd ask you if you wanted to make the same bet, but you already owe me a date anyway," Sayaka smiled, putting down a Skip card.

Tom chuckled. "I ain't digging a deeper hole for myself," he told her. "Something tells me you're going to gouge most of my money during the date anyways."

"I'll go easy on you," Sayaka grinned as she shuffled closer to Tom until she was touching his side.

Tom smiled as he leaned slightly back into her. "My wallet thanks you," he told her with a cheeky grin.

"I wonder how expensive Asuna-nee's super expensive cake is supposed to be though…" Sayaka added with a thoughtful look.

"1,000 Col," Kirito grumbled angrily as he tried to organize his cards. "Supposed to be the most expensive cake in the game."

Sayaka gently leaned against Tom expectantly.

Tom chuckled. "Let me guess, you want some, right?" he asked her, arching his eyebrow.

She nodded, putting on an angelic smile and fluttering her eyelashes.

"Fine, fine, I'll put it on the agenda," he told her with a chuckle.

"Yay!" Sayaka cheered, not bothering to mask her elation. "Want to go together, Asuna-nee?"

Asuna hummed in thought as she considered the option. "Alright!" she agreed after a few moments. "Sounds like fun!"

"Can I give up?" Kirito moaned, putting down a series of cards on top of the pile.

"Does that mean you're paying?" Asuna asked with a happy smile, her eyes glittering.

Kirito face planted into the floor as his cards flew into the air in a right mess. "Argh," he grunted.

"Is that a yes or a no?" Asuna leaned in closer, intoning her words in a rather ominous way…

"Yes," Kirito whispered, not changing his pose.

"Kiddo, welcome to the life of being whipped," Agil commented with a suppressed chuckle. "Now, and forever."

"Shut up," Kirito mumbled.

"What's 'being whipped'?" the ever naive Sayaka asked.

"I means you can never say no to your significant other," Tom explained patiently, one of his arms snaking around her waist comfortably,

Sayaka turned to look at Tom expectantly. "So does that mean I'm whipping you?" she asked.

The rest of the people in the room stared at the black-haired girl incredulously.

Argo wasn't as restrained in her mannerisms, however, and began rolling on the floor laughing madly.

Tom groaned in response. "Not… quite," he told her. "I just understand the need to keep my significant other happy."

"That mental image of Sacchi physically whipping Tom! That image!" Argo continued laughing.

Asuna looked torn between laughter and horror.

"The way you phrased it made it sound like you were actually about to whip me," he told the confused teen. "As in with a bullwhip."

Sayaka took several seconds to process the statement before she turned pale.

"A-yup," Tom confirmed with a nod, glaring at Argo. "Isn't it Kirito's turn right now?"

Kirito wiped his smirk off his face… not quite successfully. "Fine, fine," he conceded, putting down another series of cards.

"So, any ideas for a plan against the boss?" Agil asked, changing the topic.

"We'll definitely need someone with ranged attacks to stagger it…" Kirito mused.

"And we only have throwing knives as a ranged weapon," Tom muttered, his entire body freezing as the group could almost see a lightbulb go off over his head.

"Kirito, Argo, the Alchemy Skill, does it create Grenade weapons?" he asked suddenly.

"Nothing even remotely like grenades, sadly," Argo shook her head.

Tom cursed as he mentally tossed that idea. "So much for dousing him in oil and lightning it on fire," he muttered as he racked his brain.

"Well, I did try creating grenades once…" Kirito sighed. "Some ingredients react quite violently when you try to combine them. But they explode immediately after you combine them, so it won't work."

 _That_ bit of info gave Tom pause. "Kirito, you should thank the Gods you're such a pretty boy, cause dear _GOD_ you are stupid," he said after a few moments of staring. "That _is_ a grenade! All we need are flasks that have some kind of breakable wall separating the two components, throw them, glass breaks, and 'BOOM!' explosion."

"Are there even flasks like that in the system?" Kirito frowned.

Tom grinned as he pulled out an empty bottle. "These will work well enough," he told the teen. "Now… just need to figure out how to keep the liquids separated while in the flask, durable enough for transport, but can break easily enough when thrown."

Argo produced a rope from her inventory.

Tom raised an eyebrow at the info broker. "You got an idea or something, Argo?" he questioned.

"Just tie the bottles together," the information broker deadpanned. "DIY style."

Tom hummed. "That will work for now," he agreed. "If you can, see if there's some kind of glassworking skill, being able to make specially designed flasks would be a godsend for this," he opened his inventory and started rooting around through it, pulling out assorted items.

"You never know, [Cardinal] might just create a special grenadier skill after we try that in the boss fight," Argo grinned.

Tom grinned in return. "Would be good to see," he agreed as he started sorting out flasks of liquids before him. "Right, this pile here," he pointed to the pile he sorted on his right hand side. "Are various types of in game oils, most of them are _not_ flammable," he explained. "Center pile, is volatile liquids, all in game types, dear god how I wish for some nitroglycerin right now, and the ones on the left are Reactive liquids, meaning they do nothing until exposed to a certain condition."

"Tom-kun is weird," Sayaka muttered, staring at the collection of items.

Tom raised an eyebrow before grinning. "Well, I was raised during the video game dark ages," he told her. "When if you _really_ wanted to get creative, you played _Dungeons and Dragons_ , and in that, I learned so long as you have something, you can do anything with it."

"Tom-kun is old," Sayaka said cheekily.

"With age, comes wisdom and experience," he told her chidingly as he began pairing up the bottles. "It'll be crude, but… I think I have a plan for the boss… first, is this," he held up a pair of bottles. "Like Kirito, I did some experimentation in mixing random items together, this one creates a thick cloud of smoke, tough to breath in too, we throw this combo at the boss first, cut off its line of sight," he then lifted up three bottles. "[Nigi Plant Extract], [Fatty Goo], and [Slick Oil] will be next, the first two are highly flammable, the second, well, it's slick oil," he grinned. "Finally, this, it's a rare drop though, [Essense of Fire], from those [Burning Bulls] in the eastern sector, we may have to get the raid group to do some grinding for them though - anyways, we throw these and light boss on fire," his voice dropped an octave as he grinned. "And watch it scream."

"Arsonist," Kirito rolled his eyes with a devious smile. "But I like where you're going with this…"

"While I agree dogs are _very_ good friends to man, _fire_ shall always be our bestest of friend," Tom said with a firm nod. "Anyways, Argo, get word out for a Raid Group Meeting, we'll meet in the same place as last time."

Argo was just about to reply when she received a message herself. She quickly brought it up, and it was quite clear that it wasn't good news because her expression immediately turned sour.

"What is it?" Asuna asked nervously.

"The idiots in the parties that were too late for the Bulbous Bow decided to try and one-up us, they found the boss room on their own and decided to challenge it!" Argo growled as she closed the message. "They're fighting the bosses now!"

The group groaned as they smacked their faces. "What should we do?" Tom asked with a heavy sigh, looking around at the party. "Leave them, or save them?"

"Either way they'll probably cry bloody murder about us anyway, on how we didn't inform them there's an extra boss…" Agil scratched the back of his head.

"If we _do_ go in, we can use these improvised smoke grenades," Tom inputted. "Give us some cover while we drag their asses out, but… then [Cardinal] might have a counter for it when we go back in."

"Let's kill the boss!" Sayaka cheered.

The group looked at her. "We just _barely_ survived an encounter with just _one_ of the bosses," Kirito pointed out. "But… there may be up to _three_ this time."

"It all depends on how many of them we encounter at once," Kirito mused. "If it's just the original two at the start, then we can kill them fast enough before Asterius comes out. Knowing Kayaba, that might very well be what he'll be doing. And if the other parties help us out with the new one, we might just manage to kill him."

Tom sighed. "I have two bottles of [Essense of Fire]," he told them. "I'll save them for the big one."

"You… don't seem to happy about this," Agil commented as Tom stood up, equipping his gear with the rest of the party.

"Honestly, I would rather let them die," Tom stated bluntly, getting shocked and slightly horrified looks from the others. "They're like a diseased limb dragging us down, a liability."

"You'd just be proving them right by doing that though," Asuna pointed out firmly. "If we want to be seen as the better side, we should go save them. It'll reinforce public opinion towards us, and we might also just slightly rub it in Cactus-Head and his groupies' faces."

"And that, Asuna, is why I am going," Tom told her, a small grin on his face. "Not to rub it in their faces, but to drum up public support, get more people up on the front lines to help, even if it's just gathering mats and items to sell to us, we need to get supply chains started now, before we start stretching ourselves thin."

"You just want to rub it in their faces," Sayaka rolled her eyes.

"An, added bonus," he told her before looking over to Kirito. "I'll follow your lead, what do you want to do, kid?"

"Well, I'd really like to get our public opinion up as well…" Kirito nodded.

"Then we're doing it?" Agil asked as he stood, equipping his own gear.

"Yeah," Kirito nodded, his own sword appearing behind him.

"Alright, let's go then!" Asuna shouted eagerly as she materialized her sword by her side. "We have to hurry to get there in time."

"I wonder what kind of equipment the bosses will drop?" Sayaka mused cheerfully.

"Knowing this floor?" Tom grumbled under his breath. "Bondage Gear."

"I could always make it more presentable," Sayaka grinned, gesturing down at her own chestpiece.

Tom looked torn between protesting and having a nosebleed, resulting in a rather impressive face twitch.

"Ah! Tom-kun just had naughty thoughts about me!" Sayaka immediately deduced, ducking behind Asuna.

"I can't help it when you say things like that!" Tom protested, pulling at his hair. "Why did Kayaba add that *Bleep*!"

"Maybe I should try on bikini armour next time just to see how Tom-kun reacts," Sayaka thought out loud, glancing in his direction with a small smirk.

Tom tripped over absolutely nothing as they were just about to head down the stairs, sending him tumbling down. "Dammit! You did that on purpose!" he shouted back up the stairs.

"Who knows~" Sayaka sang, jumping down the stairs and bouncing off Tom once before performing a perfect acrobatic landing.

Tom growled as he stood up before suddenly grabbing her and beginning to tickle her sensitive points. "After all that I taught you that's how you repay me!?" he shouted at her.

"Mugyaaa!" Sayaka squirmed as she grabbed at Tom's hands. She didn't quite manage to pull them off her, but she did manage to redirect them a little further upwards to an even more… sensitive spot… "Hyaaa!"

"Gah!" Tom cried out as she instinctively kneed him in the face. "Why did you move my hand to there!?"

Sayaka was squirming around on the ground, her arms wrapped around her chest. "Y-You didn't have to tickle them so hard…" she gasped.

"I wasn't even _trying_ to tickle them!" he protested. "You moved my hand there!"

"Tom-kun… you pervert…" Sayaka whispered softly, getting up with an arm still firmly wrapped around her chest.

Tom stood up as well as he sighed. "Sorry," he said in apology.

"Well, I _did_ bounce off you just now, too… sorry," Sayaka looked down at the ground. "Maybe I took my fun a little too far…"

"Let's agree we both made mistakes and move on, shall we?" Tom offered as he held out a hand to her.

"Alright…" she nodded, taking his hand and shaking it.

Tom gripped her hand as they began to follow after their snickering party. "Come on," he told her, not letting go. "We've got a ways to go."

"Yeah…" Sayaka nodded slowly, picking up a rock from the ground as they left the inn and throwing it at a smirking Argo.

"Ow!"

* * *

 **END CHAPTER!**

 **DKR: You guys, just a shout out here, but, to those who think I'm the only one writing this… dear god how I** _ **wish**_ **I was that good, You guys need to thank my fellow authors, AstralXYZ, Ron The True Fan, Jorn117, Shadowmaster and Takeshi Yamato who are making sure our grammar and spelling is up to snuff.**

 **AstralXYZ: I'm writing Sayaka by the way.**

 **ShadowMaster94: I just write whatever comes to mind. I am more of an assistant than an author, honestly. Luckily I help these guys a lot when I can with whatever idea that pops in my head.**

 **Takeshi Yamato: I'm more of an assistant, as well - more a glorified grammar editor than anything else on this story.**

 **117Jorn: We help when we can… well,** _ **they**_ **do, but some of us have IRL things to deal with… GOD*** F**KING WORK!**

 **DKR: You do realize I have a job too you know, don't hear me complaining**

 **117Jorn: Yeah, but your hours are stable. Mine? They get thrown ALL OVER THE PLACE! There is NO way I can predict what the schedule is gonna be.**


	5. Second Floor Finish, Third Floor to Go

Disclaimer: Buy the official release, which this is not.

* * *

 **Meanwhile with Jordan's group**

* * *

"Six hours! I spent six hours making and reinforcing that damn shield just to be destroyed in two hits by a boss! All that time and resources just to make it was for nothing." Dennis grumbled as he worked on the forge in the back of the inn.

"Well can't say it was for nothing. It lasted pretty good against the first boss and all the other enemies we fought. Besides with you always doing maintenance on our equipment your smithing skills gotten higher and now we got some of those new ingots from the mobs. You can definitely forge a better shield once we are back." Jordan said as he came up next to him.

"I know, man, but it's pretty damn frustrating and it makes me paranoid that the next time I try shielding one of you, my next shield will break and get us both killed!"

"Oh, come on, Dennis, give us some credit - we can dodge," Jordan said. "No need to take the blow all the time."

"No, I need to, dammit," Dennis said. "I dedicated myself to being a tank, and the shield of this group, and I'll be damned if one of us died because of a faulty ass shield"

"You need to relax, Dennis," Jordan said. "We've got enough hp to take some blows, so if it happens, we can dodge for a bit, plus we got plenty of health potions thanks to Rose.

"I guess you're right, but I don't like taking chances." He said, shaking his head. "Once I level up some more of my smithing skills I'm planning to make one type of armor if possible. Plus we could definetly need a new update on armor later."

"Its all a matter of whether or not the Cardinal System allows it." Jordan said shrugging, "Like it or not, we're at the mercy of whatever the hell it and Kayaba decides to throw at us."

Dennis scoffed before speaking.

"Kayaba can choke on my fat hairy balls," he said. "I am not going to let that egotistical bastard get the best of us and I'm sure as hell not going to let this over glorified microwave on our heads be the death of us."

"Ugh did you really have to add that balls part Dennis?" Jordan said in disgust.

"That's how I feel dammit. Besides its not like that psycho spent time on adding genitalia for avatars and monsters. Perverts like me would have spread that like wildfire just to piss off oversensitive people."

"Yet there are nipples."

"It's only for aesthetics reasons. Anyway, any word from Ryu?" Dennis said as he was hammering.

"Yeah he said to meet him soon back at the labyrinth. How long before that shield is done?"

"Give me another second, annnnnnd done!" Dennis said as swung the hammer one last time before the metal changed into a large black square shaped greatshield with a ram skull in the middle."

"Neat. Can it hold better than the last one?"

"Well according to the stats the [Ram Shield] has about 400 durability compared to Ryu's shield that has 600 so it's as close as it can get at my current level. Anyway I am done here. Lets go get the others and meet Ryu." Dennis said as he equipped his new shield.

"I got a score to settle with that damn bull." Dennis growled as he got up and left the inn with Jordan behind him.

* * *

 **2nd Floor Labyrinth**

* * *

"Yay, I can finally use the odachi!" Sayaka cheered as she received the [Level Up] notification window.

"Good timing!" Kirito shouted out. "We're getting close to the boss room, better get it out and get used to it!"

"Right!" Sayaka nodded eagerly, whipping up her player menu and quickly swapping out for the odachi, which appeared in a flash of light in its sheath hanging on her side.

Tom held back a Minotaur's hammer with his shield as he rammed his sword through its throw and brutally wrenched it to the side, blood spraying over his body as he moved onto the next enemy. "How does it feel, Saya?" he called questioningly.

A flash of steel moved past him and the Minotaur he had been about to attack lost an arm.

Tom grinned at the smiling Sayaka as they moved together against the Minotaur. "Glad to see my work is doing good," he told her as he blocked a one armed hammer smash. "I'll have to start looking for rare ingots to forge with now."

"Yay! Rare weapons!" Sayaka cheered, once more using her trademark attacks done while [Sprinting] to carve off a Minotaur horn, staggering it.

Tom moved in as the monster staggered back, moving in low and swung his sword vertically, managing to completely bisect the Minotaur in half. "If there were Achievements in this, I would get the Brutality one."

"Sayaka would have gotten it first," Asuna pointed out, even though she didn't seem comfortable talking about it either.

"Don't worry about Sayaka," Tom told the worried teen softly. "You're all helping her more than you realize."

"So you've already contacted your friends, right?" Kirito asked.

"They'll be meeting us in front of the boss room," Tom explained. "So they should be just up ahead."

"Tom-kun's weird friends," Sayaka remarked.

" _Very_ weird," Tom agreed with a sigh. "Normalcy would be nice."

"Hey, we're not normal?" Agil joked, parrying a blow from a Minotaur before bringing his axe down on it, burying the head into its chest.

Tom gave him a deadpan look. "We're all trapped within a virtual reality, where we must commit horrible acts of violence against monsters to escape," he retorted. "And on some level, we _all_ enjoy this."

"Isn't that because we're all gamers?" Kirito grinned.

Asuna coughed.

" _Mostly_ gamers," he amended.

Tom shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "And who knows, maybe it says something about the human condition, but anyways, boss room is just up ahead."

Sayaka quickly popped a health potion to replenish the bit of health she had lost during the journey, even as the proximity of the boss room became obvious by the placement of the torches along the sides of the corridor and the change in the texture of the floor tiles to become more decorated. The sounds of fighting got louder and louder as they got closer to it.

"Damn, looks like the fighting has started already," Tom commented. "I'm not seeing Jorn's group anywhere, do we go in?"

"HERE!" A voice shouted as the group turned around to see Jordan and his own party arrive.

"What to you so long?" Kirito asked.

"Well, we got lost on the road of life," Jorn said shrugging, as the others deadpanned at him as he smirked. "Seriously though, ran into some mobs on the way here - skeleton minotaurs, creepy as *bleep* and damn hard to kill."

"Probably best to use blunt smashing weapons for the undead," Tom suggested offhandedly opening his menu and moving through the inventory. "Since they don't really respond to getting use, however if you smash the bones, they can't move, also, Ron, here's your sword."

Ron gratefully took the sword out of Ryu's hands, throwing it into a simple leather loop on his belt which acted as a makeshift scabbard. "After this, time to grind for materials. THIS is not happening again."

"Alright, let's kick some Minotaur ass." Jordan said, grinning, as he pulled out his sword once more. "I hope they add a feature to let us mount the heads of the bosses we've killed into a trophy room. As a way to tell Kayaba we're coming for him. Time to knock."

"Let's see if the gene pool's been cleaned out a little. Fucking retards." Social Darwinism at its' most basic at work: those thinking with their balls rather than their brains were probably dead.

"And nothing of value was lost." Dennis added.

"Let's get in there and stop people from dying," Tom said with a disgusted look towards Dennis. "Priority is to ensure those idiots are alive and will continue to live."

Dennis shrugged before speaking. "Alright but you think they be useful enough to keep the mobs away? We were able to to hold them off a bit on our own from last time but I rather we not get split into babysitting them if they are too scared to fight" Dennis said as he looked around the area sword ready.

"If they'll listen we'll put them on, also, if he's still alive give Kibaou the Last Attack Bonus," Kirito announced, getting shocked looks from the group. "The reason's simple, if we give it to him, then a _lot_ of their arguments about us hoarding the Last Attack Bonuses will fall flat."

Tom chuckled as he patted Sayaka on the head, somehow pulling off an expressionless pout. "Right, Kibaou get's the bondage L.A. Bonus," he agreed.

"You mean that red haired turd that was trying to form a lynch mob on the betas!? I was going gut his ass for his stupid bullshit if it Jordan didn't hold me back. You really sure he is just going to accept our help after what you did to him after the boss? If he doesn't and make things worse we might need to cut that limb before it kills Jordan and the other betas." Dennis said with a concern look

"He really doesn't have a choice if he wants his friends to live through the boss battle," Tom explained. "Plus, if we let him finish the boss off, his stance against Beta Players basically crumbles out from underneath him."

"There's also letting the kluges die. But that's not an option, is it? Let's get this over with: the idiots need schooling, and we're the teachers."

"Personally, I don't care," Tom admitted. "But, it's a means to an end, we help them, keep them alive and people start listening to _us_ more than _them._ "

"Hmm that would be good. In theory that is. I still won't trust them. I will keep their sorry asses alive but the moment his degenerate group try to attack us I will cut him down to defend my group." Dennis said much to dismay of Lux and Rossa.

"There shouldn't be a need to," Kirito assured. "He's desperate, not _that_ much of an idiot."

"If the boss left the kluge alive. We might be only dealing with one or two survivors out of..." Ron looked at Tom. "How many idiots? 10? 15? 20?"

Tom looked over to Argo. "A total group of 20 when the message had been sent by a concerned player in the Raid," she explained. "As for right now, I don't know."

"So we could be walking into a miniature Cannae and not even know it. At least the boss fits the situation. Shall we?"

Tom nodded and looked over to his party all of whom nodded in readiness. "Let's do this then," he called out as he moved to the doors. "In three… two… one."

"KNOCK KNOCK!" Jordan shouted as he kicked the doors open. "Anyone home?!"

"Surprised you didn't shout your battle cry," Dennis added.

"Eh, Ryu'd *bleep* about it," Jordan said with a shrug. "Gotta be original while around him it seems."

Upon entering the boss room, they could already see the party already engaging the three bosses - [ **Asterius the Taurus King** ], [ **Baran the General Taurus** ], and [ **Nato the Colonel Taurus** ]. Nato had only half of its final bar of health gone, Baran was at a fourth of his own final life bar, but it seemed Asterius still had most of his health. As for the players… it soon became obvious that their numbers had already decreased.

Of the twenty that went in, they had apparently lost three of their number already. Five of them were resting against the wall with their health bars in the red, with red trails on the ground where they had managed to drag themselves away from the ongoing battle, obviously having been caught off by the enraged states of Nato and Baran along with the appearance of Asterius.

"Move in! Jorn, your team will focus on Nato!" Kirito shouted as they charged in, coming up next to the grounded Kibaou who had barely a sliver of health left. "Kibaou, here!" he called out, tossing the spike haired young adult a Health Pot as he stared in disbelief.

"You're… the Beater?" he stared dumbfoundedly.

"Can you still fight?" Kirito pressed on. "If you can, take what's left of your party and finish off Baran, then come help my party with Asterius."

Kibaou blinked a few times before settling his face into a grim line and nodded. "Right," he agreed as he pulled himself to his feet. "Alright guys, let's pay these assholes back for all they killed!"

His party roared in agreement as they formed up, Kibaou pausing to look at Kirito for a brief second before swallowing what he was going to say to focus on the boss.

"Round *Bleeping* Two, you prick!" Tom shouted as he held two Flasks, one of [Fatty Goo] while the other was filled with [Nigi Plant Extract] and threw them both at Asterius, shattering against his skin as spilling their contents all over him. "Grenade out!" he called out in warning as he threw a Flask of [Essence of Fire], smashing against the boss, lighting the oil and goo on fire, causing the boss to scream out as it was lit on fire. "I just OLD SCHOOLED YOUR *Bleep*!"

"Ho-ly shit!" Jaden shouted in surprise, "When the _HELL_ did you get those?! Those sure as hell weren't mentioned in the info book!"

Ron looked at Tom briefly before looking back at the burning boss. "If you want a better delivery method, talk to me if we survive this. I've got a few ideas."

"So do I, but considering this was last minute, I think I did well," Tom called back, a wide grin on his face as the boss burned.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Jordan shouted as he jumped to avoid Nato's swing. "If you're wounded, GTFO and heal up! If you've got 70% health or above, form up! We're taking Nato out of the picture!"

"One small step out of this goddamned game! GET TO WORK, KLUGES; WE'RE NOT SAVING YOU AGAIN!" Ron yelled out as he charged towards Nato.

"I have one [Essence of Fire] left," Tom explained to Kirito, holding out the said flask out to him. "When I give the signal, throw it, it'll be watching me for it from now on."

Kirito nodded in agreement, grabbing hold of the flask as they watched Asterius' first health bar shatter and disappear. "Damn, that's effective," he commented. "Okay, I am seriously interested in D&D after that."

"Can we talk about stupid bullshit later? You know when we AREN'T SURROUNDED BY GIANT MINOTAURS!?" Dennis shouted as hit Nato with his sword before blocking the hammer swing in retaliation. He grinned as he noticed the condition his shield only went down by five points.

"Looks like Aries is smiling upon me." Dennis said as he released a bunch of flurry stabs at the leg of Nato.

"Toro! Toro!" Jordan shouted as he climbed up on top of Nato along its back, gripping on the hairs and armor plating of the boss as it tried to get him off his back, running and bucking like a bull would while also needing to deal with the others attacking. Jordan reached the top of boss near the back of its neck, before he delivered a series of slashing strikes into him. The Boss tried to swat him away, but he leaped over the strike. "Oley! Lux! Rossa!"

"YEEEEEAAAAAH!" The two girls shouted as they ran up beneath Nato, both swinging their respective weapons as they leaped into the air, and stabbed the groin area of the boss. Nato seemed to visibly recoil from the strike just as anyone would if they were stabbed below the belt, before its HP bar finally hit zero and vanished in a show of pixels.

"Yeah! Take that you goddamn oversized cow!" Jordan shoued. "Its _Pasture_ bedtime!"

...there was a long silence as it seemed like the entire battlefield stopped, as everyone- even the _bosses_ stopped to look at Jordan, with crickets chirping in the background. "What?"

"Well that was easier than expected. Now to focus on dear old Asty." Dennis said as he glared at the still burning king who was focusing on Ryu with an unholy rage.

"URRRYA!" a pair of [Giant Axe] users smashed their weapons into the back of Baran's knees, causing the boss to cry out as it was forced to the ground, giving Kibaou a clear shot as the Mace user leapt up, angling himself to drop onto the boss' head, smashing his weapon into the Minotaur's face, finishing it off with a victorious cry.

"Onto the last boss, support the Beta Tester party!" Kibaou shouted.

"Kibaou!" Kirito shouted, calling the man's attention. "Keep yourself ready, Last Attack is yours."

Kibaou blinked in shock. "What, why?" he asked incredulously. "Why are you giving me this?"

"Because, as much as I hate to admit it, we need the people we need to escape this game! We want to leave as much as you do!" Kirito shouted. "So, are you going to take it?"

Kibaou stared at the teen suspiciously for a minute before nodding with resolution. "Yeah, I will," he agreed. "Alright guys, let's end this! You guys have a plan."

"Light it on fire once more, then hack and slash," Kirito explained quickly. "Looked like the fire takes a bar and a half, so it'll still have three health bars left."

"Then let's do this," Jordan said, as the teams once again formed up against the final boss. "Take him down on all sides, and do just do the equivalent of button smashing against that *bleep*." He then grinned, "We're gonna be eating beef tonight boys!"

Tom grinned as he moved away from the heavy smash from the boss, the boss' rage keeping it from using its stunning skills, smashing another bottle of [Fatty Goo] against its face, before leaping back away from the boss. "Kirito, now!" he shouted.

"Right!" Kirito yelled out, hurling the bottle contained the glowing red essence within it at Asterius.

The bottle smashed against the boss and released a conflagration of flames, igniting the rest of the flammable mixture from the earlier DIY grenade. Asterius roared, turning to face Kirito as its hate table updated, placing him at the very top of the list.

"Tanks, put yourselves between that fat cow and the pretty boy!" Tom called out, readying his shield. "DPS units, hit it with everything you have!"

"I'm on it. Its payback time you son of a bitch!" Dennis shouted at the king and charged right at it before striking its left ankle multiple times with his estoc causing the bull to below in pain and become more enraged.

The Boss swung it's massive hammer at the crowd of tanks, recognizing them as an obstacle for getting to its target. "Shields up!" Tom shouted as he raised his own, the grouping of the shields preventing the majority of the damage to get through. "Strike now, while it's off balance!"

Sayaka quickly [Sprinted] in, her recently-acquired Katana skill showing its worth as she traced several red lines across Asterius' flank using its superior reach compared to her previous wakizashi. Even without using any Sword Skills, the momentum alone from her [Sprints] added quite a bit of power to her swings, allowing her to cut through the thick skin with ease. "Switch!" she yelled out after one of her swings cut the hamstring of the boss and forced it to a knee.

"Lux, use its knees to climb and strike the horns!" Dennis commanded which the blonde nodded.

She sprinted toward the leg and jumped on the knee of Asterius making her way up toward his head just barely avoiding a hand that tried to swat her like a fly. She was on top of his head and started striking on one of the horns with multiple stabs with her rapiers causing immense pain to the beast before she held her rapier with both hands and used all her strength and stamina to leaving multiple holes on the horn before she jumped off. Asterius was screaming and howling in pain as it holded the damaged horn.

"Asuna, let's go!" Kirito shouted, the two charging forward with their weapons at the ready, Asuna preparing her [Linear] as Kirito prepared a [Vorpal Strike] of his own, launching their skills at the same time. After her first [Linear] connected, Asuna let out a cry and chained into even more consecutive [Linears]. The high-powered jabs punctured right through Asterius' thick skin. Kirito's own Sword Skill, with all his weight put into a straight forward lunging stab did a similar amount of damage. Between them they demolished the last vestiges of the boss's fourth health bar.

"Two more to go!" Sayaka shouted, sliding between the boss' legs as she lashed out with her odachi to leave a cut across a… certain place that should not be mentioned.

The attack left a rather noticeable dent in the fifth health bar… as well as the moods of most of the male players attacking the boss.

"Saya… we gotta find a new outlet for your aggression," Tom commented with a wince.

"Eh? But I always seem to get critical hits when I hit that spot…" Sayaka blinked in genuine confusion. "Should I not be attacking it?"

"It's… complicated," Tom informed with a sigh. "It's… a very sensitive part to males."

"She's a little demon, all right…" Kibaou muttered under his breath, careful not to let anyone else hear.

"Can we talk about the fine arts of male castration some other time? You know when we AREN'T FIGHTING A 150 FOOT BULL!?" Dennis shouted angrily snapping everyone back to virtual reality.

"On it!" Tom shouted as he slashed his sword at the boss with his full strength, cutting a line in its flank, blood spraying out of its assorted wounds as it began to stagger back, preparing for its Breath attack. "Get out of the way! It's a stunning attack!"

Sayaka [Sprinted] in quickly and tackled the less-mobile Tom way off to the side out of the way of the attack.

Tom wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her with him, rolling them so that her fall would be cushioned by his body, the rest of the Raid group managing to get themselves out of the way of the breath attack. "Keep hitting it!" Kirito shouted as he and Asuna moved in. "Don't let up the pressure!"

"Tally ho!" Jordan shouted as he and Dennis ran forward. "Dennis! Springboard! Now!"

"On it!" Dennis shouted, as he ran in front of his friend, raising his shield up. Jordan leaped up onto the shield, before Dennis lunged all of his strength into thrusting the shield upwards towards the boss, while Jaden jumped up using that momentum as he soared towards the Boss with his sword wound up. "Hey Alty! Got something in your eye!"

The boss glanced at Jordan, but wasn't able to react in time as Jaden flew towards his face, and sliced out his left eye, causing the bull to roar out in pain as his hand went to his eye. However he used his free arm to bat Jordan away, who went flying backward. "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT!" he shouted as he flew into a wall, taking a good chunk out of his health. "THAT *Bleep*ING HURT!"

"He's blind on his left side!" Dennis shouted, "Attack him from there!"

"Jorn, you alive over there?" Tom called out. "You need any Health Pots?"

"I'm good," he replied, staggering a bit as he downed a health potion. "Gonna feel that in the morning though… "

Tom nodded to himself as he and Sayaka got to their feet. "If you use me as a platform, can you reach its horns?" he asked her.

"Easily," Sayaka affirmed with a nod, preparing herself as Tom charged forward.

"Hey ugly bull, I should strap you over my barbeque, at least then you'd make a great steak!" Tom taunted garnering Asterius' full attention as Tom weathered the hammer blows with his shield, the defensive armament starting to come close to breaking. "Saya, now!"

He felt a featherlight footstep on his shoulder as Sayaka used him as a springboard, the odachi he made for her at the ready as she swung it with all her might at one of the horns, completely severing it from Asterius causing the boss to emit a high pitched scream as the fifth health bar shattered.

"This is it! The final push!" Tom roared out.

"It's only one more health bar and it's dead! Give it all you got!" Dennis shouted

The gathered players all roared in approval as they started attacking with renewed vigour.

"Time for another ankle smash!" Dennis shouted as switched to the claymore. He charged and used the pommel of the claymore and hit the ankle using his full strength causing a bone crushing sound making Asterius to roar in pain once again and was brought down to his knee permanently.

The boss roared as the players kept attacking his flanks whittling away his health little by little, until…

"Kibaou, now!" Kirito shouted to the other Party Leader. "Finish it off!"

"OOORRRRYAAAAA!" the spike haired man roared as he took a running leap as he drew his arm back, the Mace Skill [Power Strike] charging as he hit the proper position and as soon as he was close enough, he let the stike go, smashing straight into the Boss' face, draining the last of its Health before it shattered into polygons, a congratulatory trumpet being played in the background as a banner with the words 'Congratulations' appeared, the EXP and Col drops appearing before the players, along with individual item drops.

"Ooorraaa!" Jordan shouted, pumping a fist into the air. "Scratch another floor down! Woo-hoo!"

Tom let out a relieved sigh as he dropped down onto his butt, panting in relief as he checked his shield's durability. "A single point left, you my friend, are _very_ lucky," he told the shield even as Sayaka sat down next to him, leaning against him.

"And another step to getting out of the death trap. Let's wrap this up and get moving! We have walking wounded, and I want them dealt with OUT of this dungeon! We have another floor to take on once we've recovered!" Dennis commanded

"Kibaou, have your more seriously wounded guys teleport back to Urbas," Kirito suggested. "They can join us once we open up the gate."

"Why are you doing this, you dirty Beater?" Kibaou snarled.

"To save your lives," Kirito retorted quickly. "We _had_ managed to get a quest that allowed us to scout the boss, and we _would_ have shared everything with you tomorrow!"

"Tch…" Kibaou grunted, looking aside in slight shame - even he knew when his actions almost caused his men to die. For now though, he had no retort because the Beater's group _had_ managed to save him. "You… have my thanks for now."

"We want to get out of here as much as you do, but _not_ at the extent to allow people to die or wish death upon them," Kirito continued. "The people that are behind us, they need people to look up to, to give them hope, how are we doing that by fighting with each other?"

"How am I supposed to fight alongside you if I can barely even trust you not to stab us in the back?" Kibaou shot back lamely, knowing his argument wasn't quite working anymore.

"Oh, for the love of Christ, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND THINK!" Ron stormed over, not looking happy at all with his lack of intelligence. "We just saved your asses. What, you think we're just going to shank you afterwards?! How *bleep*ing ridiculous. You blame the beta testers for this when the blame lies with Kayaba? Goddamn kluges, the lot of you. I don't care HOW valuable you are: letting you die would've been a blessing to the gene pool, seeing as you blamed the *bleep*ing blameless! Your death would've been a blessing."

"Stop right there," Agil laid a firm hand on Ron's shoulder calmly. "Cursing and swearing isn't going to help you get your point across. It's just going to make people automatically filter it out."

"Well, tell me that these retards will get the idea that the enemy is Kayaba, not the betas, and I'll tolerate them. For the moment, though, you made a mistake, retard. I'm not a beta tester: I joined on RELEASE DAY. And I logically blame the *Bleep*er that locked us in, not the testers. So, ditch the ego and your useless pride and USE YOUR BRAIN, IF YOU HAVE ONE, KLUGE!"

"And insulting people doesn't help get your point across either," Agil added firmly, his expression set in stone. "Calm down, Ron."

"I'll concede this one to you people for now…" Kibaou turned away from them and began to walk away. "But I'll still be keeping an eye on you!"

"Just don't try to stab us in the back again," Tom told him. "And we won't either."

"Still don't trust him..." Jordan whispered to Tom. "He's too damn prideful for his own good. That _will_ get him killed if he doesn't shape up."

Tom shrugged in response. "Oh well," he responded. "Let's get going to the next town, want to lead the way, Kirito?"

"Alright. The next floor is an elven-themed floor by the way," Kirito had barely taken a step before Sayaka was suddenly in front of him, somehow pulling off a sparkly-eyed look even while her face was set into emotionless mode.

"Elves."

"Yes, elves," Kirito nodded slowly, slightly unnerved by the weird look on her face.

"I take it you're a fan of elves, Saya?" Tom asked with a small grin, patting her head.

"I already told you last floor," Sayaka pouted emotionlessly.

Tom chuckled as he pinched her cheek. "I know," he assured her. "Just remember, most of them will be trying to harm us in grievous ways."

"Then we can beat them up, right?" Sayaka looked up at Tom.

"I'm pretty sure we can smash their pretty little elven faces in," he told her with a nod, the smile on his face at an extreme contrast to his words.

"And get their armour?" Sayaka began bouncing eagerly on her feet.

Asuna and Kirito were inching slowly away from the conversation that had apparently quite suddenly taken a twist down a really strange and somewhat diabolical path.

"I'm sure there will be some armor drops," Tom agreed. "But I may just forge myself something a bit more… durable, something tells me elven armor will dent at the first real punch thrown."

"I want armour that's easy to move around in," Sayaka grinned.

It looked pretty ominous to the rest of the party.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Tom declared, purposefully making his grin on the sadistic side as he saw his party's wary looks. "We must go on a Murder Rampage."

The whole group cringed and started to back away from them more before Dennis approached them.

"Alright all the wounded are accounted for and Rossa is treat- Um what the hell is wrong with those two?" Dennis asked as he saw Tom and Sayaka grinning like psychopaths.

"You don't want to know. So what were you saying about the wounded?" Jordan said

"Oh, that they are accounted for and that Rossa is distributing all the extra health pots she has. A couple of them have a broken limb or so but should be fine by tomorrow. Lux is helping Rossa a bit with the wounded for now before we leave. Should only take a few more minutes. By the way what's on the next floor?"

"Elves," Kirito answered. "And apparently Sayaka wants to strip them for their armor."

"Ew Elven armor. While Elves may make some good weapons they really leave their armor not much to be desired. I always preferred a good old heavy armor like my gothic than to touch those golden tinfoils." Dennis said as he beat his steel chest proudly.

"Yeah, keep gloating about that damn armor," Jordan muttered, "Just pray to whatever deity of this world Kayaba doesn't decide to add firearms."

"Or give me a crossbow." The grin on Ron's face was equal to the looks on Tom and Sayaka's faces.

"Ron, I saw a video on youtube where someone shot a high-power crossbow at a set of armor," Jordan said, shaking his head. "The bolt just bounced off. Dennis has been researching swords and stuff ever since he pre-ordered SAO. He's practically a sword/armor junkie now… ask him anything about swords or stuff like it, he'll know it. "

"All armor has weakpoints. And I know how to aim. But I'd rather use that on the idiots trying to kill us. So, bring on the upgrades: it's time to get moving. Shall we?"

"Yeah the girls should be done by now but I will say a quote I found on YouTube. The armor was approaching perfection. And then some asshole made gunpowder weapons useful." Dennis grumbled.

"Yo, you guys coming or not?" Tom called out as he and his party moved to the gateway to the third floor.

"Move it, gentlemen: we have work to do." Ron rushed ahead of them, joining Tom's group.

"We're coming, coming. Yo Lux! Rossa! We're leaving. Anyone who hasn't fully healed yet can walk it off from here. Give them the extra pots if you need to. If we hurry we can make it to the inn before nightfall." Dennis said as he and the others followed the group.

"Wait up!" Rossa and Lux said in unison as they rushed to catch up.

As the groups approached the large opened door it was slowly revealed a large green forest. Nothing but green lushful trees and other blooming flora surrounding them as they kept walking. There was oddly only a single dirt path in the middle of the forest. As they walked, they kept being amazed by how detailed all the plant life was in this virtual reality. The sun was starting to set but was high enough to give them enough light. As they kept walking they eventually were able to leave the forest and could see from the distance the next large town.

"See you later, Jorn," Tom said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "I think we all deserve a break after all that."

"Damn straight. We can plan for this level tomorow. Night guys." Jordan said as he and his group left towards the inn.

"Later," Tom returned as he and his party remained near the stairs, taking in the scenery. Verdant forests stretched into the distance, mists hugging the ground and masking the undergrowth. The sky was nice and blue - they still wondered how the sky could appear like this considering they still had a floor above them.

"You doin' alright, Saya?" he asked.

"I wonder what SAO would have been like if Kayaba Akihiko had added a race system?" Sayaka wondered out loud as she sheathed her odachi by her side. The long weapon's sheath was almost touching the ground as she walked…

Tom snorted in response. "Then there'd also be racial divides along with Beta-Tester/Noob lines," he commented dryly. "I think _that's_ the last thing we need."

"We already have some racial divides going on here," Agil sighed. "The anti-outsider hate hasn't completely subsided yet."

Tom shrugged. "I don't really care to be honest," he admitted. "If they don't want to work with me, then it's their loss."

"I want to learn magic…" Sayaka grumbled, apparently not listening to the ongoing conversation at all.

Tom ruffled her hair affectionately. "Well, I guess we'll see if it's been added when [Cardinal] sends out its floor update," he told her. "But still… _elves_ man."

"You had better not go around ogling the elven NPCs," Sayaka narrowed her eyes at Tom.

Tom chuckled. "Honestly, I'd rather ogle _you,_ " he told her, a teasing grin spreading across his face.

The black-haired girl went bright red and sputtered for a few moments before giving up and ducking behind Asuna.

The elder of the two girls giggled in response. "You should know by now he'll just start teasing you when you get all jealous and clingy like that, Saya-chan," Asuna lectured. "It's your own fault for bringing it up."

"Mugi."

"So, any special quests of note on this floor?" Agil questioned. "I heard the quest for Guilds is on this floor."

"It is," Kirito confirmed. "There's also a faction quest of sorts - the Light and Dark elves are fighting on this upcoming floor and we're supposed to pick a side to help them out. It starts a whole chain of quests that ends in fighting the queen of the opposing side."

"That sounds… difficult," Tom said with a troubled frown. "If I were to guess, Titania would be the 'Light' Elf queen, most popular one in mythology… maybe… Mab? as the Dark Elf Queen."

Asuna found herself shivering for a moment as the name 'Titania' was mentioned for some reason, but she brushed it off. "I don't even know any of them," she sighed.

"Titania sounds pretty! Like Asuna-nee!" Sayaka grinned.

Asuna blushed at the compliment, even as something within the back of her mind railed against the idea.

"Titania has been called the Queen of Fairies in popular folklore, meanwhile, Mab, who I believe gained some infamy with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, since then she's be placed within the realms of Ice and Darkness," Tom explained, getting some surprised looks.

"You're surprisingly well-read, nishishishi~" Argo noted.

Tom shrugged in response. "Shakespeare is required in high school, played Mercutio in a play - yeah, I was in a play, under duress I might add," he responded. "Plus, myths are freaking awesome."

"Just don't go into Cthulhu territory," Kirito responded.

Tom shuddered. "Don't have to tell me twice," he muttered. "I've played Call of Cthulhu, you haven't died until your character is such a gibbering mess he rips out his own intestines to strangle a team member."

"What are intestines?" Sayaka asked, receiving several morbid looks from the rest of her party in response.

Tom looked over to the older Japanese teens. "Do you _not_ cover basic human Biology in school?" he asked incredulously.

"She hasn't started on that yet," Asuna sighed, scratching her head. "Saya-chan's 15 years old, which means she's in the first year of Japanese high school. Detailed Biology is only taught in the second year."

Tom 'ah'd in response to Asuna's explanation. "Bit different when I was in high school," he admitted. "First and second year was general introduction to full range of the sciences, maths and so on, with more specialized instruction in third and final years, so we learned biology, physics, and so on in first and second year science with the advanced classes as electives."

"You went to a Western high school, of course the curriculum's different…" Asuna sighed.

Tom shrugged. "It is kinda interesting the difference between the educational styles though," he admitted. "Not that yours is bad, just different."

"Asian education systems in general focus more on memorization and cultivate respect towards our teachers," Asuna nodded. "The Western style has a lot more freedom, and they tend to speak out against their teachers more."

Tom snorted. "Yeah, pros and cons to each really," he sighed. "But the reason for the speaking out is because the majority of Western teachers just don't care anymore, sad really. Some were crushed by the system for trying to change it, others just gave up."

"There'll always be good and bad teachers," Asuna sighed, remembering the times when she had to suffer through teachers who didn't quite know what they were doing as well, forcing her to study at home instead.

"This is complicated stuff," Sayaka had swirls in her eyes as she tried to process the ongoing conversation.

Tom patted her head reassuringly. "Don't worry Saya, we all can't be thinkers," he 'assured' her in a teasing tone, a wide grin splitting his face.

"Mugiii! You're insulting me, right!?"

"Now why would you even suggest that!?" Tom asked in a scandalous voice before settling himself. "So, where's the closest town?"

"Ulla Alari City is just a few minutes' walk from here," Kirito spoke out, pointing at the town just barely visible in the distance. "Population's mostly human, with a few elves scattered here and there."

"Alright, let's get there," Agil announced. "After that Boss Fight, I am totally ready to crash."

"I completely agree…" Kirito slumped and raised his hand in agreement.

"I want to take a bath!" Sayaka cheered.

"A good soak sounds nice," Tom agreed with a sigh.

"You're lucky the inns here get better with baths," Kirito chuckled. "So we won't have to keep crashing at my place on the 1st floor whenever you want to bathe…"

* * *

 **The Next Day, 3rd Floor, Ulla Alari City, Inn**

* * *

Something sharp poked Tom in the chest.

"Ngh," the sleeping Canadian groaned in protest.

It poked him again.

Tom tried to swat the offending object away. "G'way," he mumbled out.

"Mugyaa?" his hand met soft skin.

"Hunh," Tom dragging his unwilling eyes open to a messy blur of silver in front of him. "Huwha?"

A spade-shaped black object waved back and forth in front of his eyes.

"Saya… you there?" he groaned out as he shifted slightly.

"Ten more minutes…" the blur of silver in front of him rolled over, a medium-sized black… batlike wing folded around it coming into view.

Tom's eyes snapped immediately into focus as he jolted into full consciousness, upsetting Sayaka who was curled up against him. "Saya… is that… you?" he asked uncertainly.

"What's wrong…?" 'Sayaka' sat up, rubbing her eyes slowly.

"Saya, what was the weapon I bought for you on the First Floor when we met and how much did it cost?" Tom demanded quickly, his voice hardening.

"Eh…? A wakizashi… and I can't remember…" Sayaka let out a small yawn.

The spade-shaped object waved around in front of Tom again, and he realized it was attached to a… long, thin tail that seemed to go around to his partner's back…

"Take a long hard look at yourself Saya," Tom said as he looked over her, his eyes settling overtop of her where her [Player Name] was, there was the usual [Sayaka] in green with a small marking to show she was a part of his party, but… on top of that was something else: [Little Demon].

"Munyaa…?" Sayaka blinked several times before she realized there were two somethings folded around her waist, and that there was a spade-shaped black object attached to the end of a black tube going around to her back… and it was moving. And instead of the usual black hair she was seeing in the corner of her vision, there was silver now… "Eh?"

"I think we need to check to see if [Cardinal] made system updates while we were asleep," Tom suggested as he quickly opened his menu, and sure enough, there was a message from [Cardinal], making his menu visible to Saya, he opened the message.

 _Greetings Players of SAO,_

 _Congratulations for clearing the Second Floor of Aincrad, thanks to your efforts we have made progress in updating SAO in several ways, including the all important glitch fixes._

 _Firstly, and most importantly, Pain is now fully actualized, should you get stabbed, it will feel like you got stabbed, so do be careful, but, to balance this out, we have now added in Pain Relief potions that will temporarily set your pain inhibitors back to the way they were on the last floor! Be sure to stock up for those long battles!_

 _Secondly, some you may have noticed some physical changes to your player Avatar, this is because we have now activated, and distributed, titles to Players who have accomplished worthy deeds or are making a name for themselves! In addition to physical and cosmetic changes, these titles come with bonuses, and can be switched for newly acquired titles should you be awarded them! So be brave bold warriors, and earn your glory!_

 _And the third most important, new weapons have come available, Bows and Crossbows along with an assortment of other fabulous ranged weaponry for your pleasure, they are, of course, at the basic level on this floor, but, train those skills, as more will become available, also, keep an eye out for related [Extra Skills]._

 _Speaking of those handy dandy [Extra Skills], we have created a new one, because of one player's ingenious use of certain items, [Extra Skill: Grenadier] and [Extra Skill: Glassmaking], to that adventurous player, please, do keep using your Old School ideas, my creator was also a D &D fan._

 _Until then, Have fun!_

"MUGYAAAAAAA! WHY DO I HAVE HORNS!? WHY DO I HAVE A TAIL AND WINGS!?" Sayaka was inspecting her new assets in a panic.

Tom quickly searched through his menu and located a new option, [Titles]. "Check your menu, there's a titles one there, and you _do_ have one… [Little Demon]," he stifled a chuckle as he said her title.

"I don't want to be a little demon!" Sayaka groaned, rubbing the short and slightly curved horns she now sported on the sides of her head. "And this tail and these wings feel so weird!"

Tom stared at her for a minute before cracking a smile. "It's actually kinda cute on you," he told her.

Sayaka glared at him through her red eyes - changed from their previous brown, he noted. Her tail waved angrily behind her. "But I don't want to look like a demon…" she grumbled.

Tom chuckled and patted her on the head, avoiding the sharp tips of her horns. "It looks like you can change titles if you get a new one," he told her, bringing up his own title menu. "Looks like I got one too, [Protector], serious defensive buffs, and [Massive Armor] buff, whatever that means."

"Then I'm unequipping this now!" Sayaka declared, pulling up her menu and quickly locating the new [Titles] option, but her hand froze as she reached to unequip her title. "I get a speed and jump height buff while wearing light armour, less aggro, increased critical rate and damage…" she read off.

"That suits you perfectly," Tom said musingly. "You sure you want to change it?"

"I want to change it, but it's too useful, and I don't have any other titles!" Sayaka groaned, closing her menu. "Why? Why did [Cardinal] have to make this title so useful!?"

"Because it seems like [Cardinal] is becoming something of a *bleep*," Tom offered. "Wonder how the others will react to your changes?"

"I don't want to see them," Sayaka picked up the blanket and wrapped it around herself.

Tom chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her, mindful of her new appendages. "Saya, no matter how you look, you are still Saya, they won't treat you any differently," he assured her. "Tease you, yes, but that's what friends do."

Sayaka's wings fluttered slightly under the blanket. "I wonder if Asuna-nee got anything?" she whispered.

"Probably related to her use of the [Linear] Sword Skill," Tom guessed, continuing to hold her. "I really hope Argo got something rat related as a title."

"Maybe she'll get a rat tail and actual whiskers?" Sayaka suggested, her own tail sneaking out from under the blanket and waving around. She shot a small glare at it.

Tom chuckled in response. "That would be amusing," he agreed as her tail seemed to brush up against him of its own accord. "Imagine her waking up to that sight in the mirror," he repressed his laugh as he brushed his hand along her tail.

Sayaka had been about to say something, but she abruptly straightened up and froze as Tom brushed against her tail. "Hyaaan~" she let out a surprisingly erotic moan before clapping her hand to her mouth in shock.

Tom jerked his hand away from her tail, staring at her wide eyed. "Did… did that just happen?" he asked uncertainly.

"W-W-What was that? I felt funny for a moment…" Sayaka shivered, her tail having fallen limp on Tom's lap after he let go of it.

"I… I think Kayaba and [Cardinal] are even bigger perverts than we thought," Tom commented slowly.

"I don't even know what just happened…" she whispered, the tip of her tail twitching slightly.

"I… well… you see…" Tom started several times only to cut himself off. "Have you had the birds and the bees talk yet?"

"What's that?" the little demon tilted her head sideways in confusion.

Tom let out a strangled noise. "Where… babies come from?" he tried again.

"My mum told me babies come when men do perverted things to women…" Sayaka said thoughtfully. "But she never explained it in detail."

Tom groaned. "I'm… I'm going to have Asuna explain what happened to you," he concluded in a defeated tone. "There… there's just way too much to explain and it would be weird for _me_ to do it."

"Was touching my tail supposed to be something perverted?" Sayaka asked with narrowed eyes, wrapping her tail around her waist and covering it under her wings.

"I think you really should be careful with who touches it," Tom answered, inching back slightly. "And how the heck was I supposed to know it was that sensitive?"

"Mugi," she pulled up her menu and put on her armour, pausing when she realized that there was now a small hole in the back of her skirt just for her new tail, and the armour seemed to have gotten darker in colour. "It actually… kind of felt good…" she confessed, her cheeks reddening.

Tom sighed and smiled at her, patting her head. "I'll try and be careful not to brush up against it," he told her. "Unless you tell me too."

"Umm… actually, can you do it again?" she whispered, grabbing her tail just ahead of the tip and offering it to Tom shyly.

Tom blinked in surprise before smiling softly at her with a shake of his head. "If that is what you wish," he whispered to her, softly stroking her tail.

"Hyaaan~" Sayaka moaned, arching her back slightly. "W-Why am I making such a weird noise…?"

"Well, that's because of the pleasure you're feeling from it," Tom explained, looking slightly awkward with the situation. "It's an involuntary response."

"I-I-It's making me feel kind of hot…" she whispered softly, twitching here and there. "T-Tom-kun… yo-you can stop already… Aaah!"

Tom smiled a bit as he let go of her tail. "Just... be careful with it in public," he told her. "Don't want to cause any… incidents."

"Y… Yeah…" Sayaka flopped onto the bed and began breathing heavily, doing interesting things to her chest.

Tom ignored the movements to her chest as he gently rubbed her forehead. "I would suggest talking with Asuna later about… the birds and the bees," he told her. "Especially… if you are planning on bringing our relationship to… _that_ level."

"Even though I still don't know what that's about… okay…" she breathed.

Tom sighed. ' _I_ really _should warn Asuna before Sayaka speaks to her,_ ' he thought to himself. ' _After all, different cultures and everything, with westerners, it's all out on the table, not so much elsewhere though,_ ' he quickly brought up the message screen and typed out a message to Asuna with one hand, outlining what happened and that he needed _someone_ to explain things to the teen, his other hand was continuing Sayaka's forehead massage, making the teen a little droopy eyed in response.

He got a very short and confused-looking message back a few moments later. _'What's_ The Talk _?'_

"Ah *bleep*," he muttered quietly to himself. "This… is not good, why are there no adult females in the group, we need someone around for this stuff…"

"Mugyaaa…" Sayaka mumbled, sitting up slowly and picking up the blanket again to wrap it around herself. "I still don't want to talk to them like this."

"Then take off the title," Tom returned to her, sending a message to Asuna to ignore his last one. "At least if you can."

Grumbling slightly, Sayaka brought up her menu again and navigated to the Titles section, where she paused. "There's no button to unequip it, or change to no title!" she squawked.

"Oh," Tom responded with a surprised look. "That's… troubling," he quickly opened up his own menu. "Well, you'll have to face them eventually."

Sayaka flopped onto the bed face-down, still wrapped in her blanket. "No."

Tom planted his hands on his hip. "Shall I start treating you like a child and drag you kicking and screaming then?" he asked with a grin.

"You wouldn't dare!" the little demon shouted.

Tom merely smiled in response as he loomed over her.

"W-Wait, really…?" she began shying backwards as Tom's shadow seemed to stretch towards her ominously…

"It's like a bandage," he told her as he gripped her legs. "Best to just rip it off and be done with."

"No! Let me go! Tom-kun!"

"Nuh uh," he denied as he began to pull. "Either you come willinging, or unwillingly."

Sayaka wrapped her arms around the bedpost tightly.

"Well, if you're going to be like that," Tom said warningly, reaching for her new tail.

Sayaka didn't notice what he was about to do until it was too late. "Hyaaaaaan!"

* * *

 **Downstairs**

* * *

"Sorry we're late guys," Tom called out as he descended down the stairs, greeting his gathered party, clad in his casual clothes, Sayaka over his shoulder as she struggled in his grip. " _Someone_ was embarrassed about their title perks."

"Mugiiii! That was cheating!" Sayaka began beating on Tom's back.

"And you were being obstinate, so all's fair," Tom countered as he set down Sayaka, allowing the party to get a good look at her changes, even as she attempted to wrap her wings around herself.

"Li… [Little Demon]," Kirito got out before he had to clamp his hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter.

"Mugiii!" Sayaka hid behind Tom.

Her wings and tail still stuck out from behind him anyway.

"Aww, it's so adorable!" Asuna 'squee'd' out as she rushed over and glomped Sayaka, skillfully avoiding Sayaka's pointy horns.

Conspicuously floating above Asuna's head, and her name were two words. [The Flash]

"I don't want to be a [Little Demon]!" the little demon protested, freezing up when Asuna's hand found her tail.

"Don't!" Tom quickly said, grabbing Asuna's wrist quickly before it could close around the tail. "It… it's _very_ sensitive, and not something to touch in public."

That got a very odd look in response from Asuna. "There's no taboo against touching tails in public, is there?"

"A-Asuna-nee… just please don't," Sayaka begged, as she gingerly pulled her tail out of the older girl's hand.

Agil's eyes widened slightly as he caught onto what Tom was alluding to. "I think you should listen to them, Asuna," the dark-skinned man told the teen. "If they are saying not to touch it, there's probably a good reason for it."

"Alright…" Asuna relented, but her hand moved to Sayaka's wings instead. "What about these?" she pointed.

"I… I don't know?" Sayaka offered helpfully.

She froze up again when Asuna poked a wing.

"Anything?" Tom asked curiously.

"That feels really, really weird," Sayaka frowned as she looked back over her shoulder at the offending appendages coming out just over her waist, the wings flapping a bit. "Like… Asuna-nee's touching something that I can't feel, but I can feel it anyway… but it's not as bad as my tail."

"It almost seems like the stories of an amputee who can still feel their amputated limb, even though it is gone," Kirito mused, having calmed from his laughter, a title of [Beater] hovering above his head. "It's amazing Kayaba went to this level with the NervGear."

"It's a well-known fact that the medical industry was quite excited about the uses of the NervGear for therapy," Agil nodded along. "And it could also give the disabled a chance to stretch their legs and arms in a virtual world."

"It has unlimited potential that's for sure," Tom agreed as he took a seat at the table. "I just hope _this,_ " he waved around them to emphasize the game. "Doesn't hurt that potential."

"I don't feel like going out into public," Sayaka grumbled, peering outside through the windows.

"Going to have to eventually, Saya-chan," Asuna said with a cheerful smile. "It'll be fun!"

"No, it won't!" Sayaka materialized a cloak around herself…

It had holes for her tail and wings.

"MUGIIII!"

"Wow… [Cardinal] thought of everything," Tom commented as he scanned through his menu, his eyebrow raising. "Hey, you guys see the news about the new [Extra Skill]?"

"Yeah, you mean [Grenadier] and [Glassmaking], right?" Kirito grinned. "Hard to believe what we did actually earned us skills like that."

"Well, I got both of them last night," Tom informed, flipping his skill list to be visible to the others. "Guess D&D is helpful no matter what game you're playing."

"Same, I got both," Kirito followed suit, showing his skill list. "I'll definitely be putting [Grenadier] to good use."

"And combined with Alchemy, the possibilities are endless," Tom grinned widely. "We… need an alchemist for our group… also, are we going to make a [Guild]?"

"I'm not really interested in making a [Guild]..." Kirito shied away.

"Eh? Why?" Asuna immediately asked.

"I mean… I still feel like I'm more used to fighting in a small group rather than a big group…" the [Beater] confessed.

"We can keep the guild small," Tom suggested. "I just think it'd be good idea for us to be shown as a proper team."

"I have no objections," Agil grinned, having anticipated the idea since a long time ago.

"Come to think of it, where's Argo? She should really be here…" Asuna looked around for the information broker.

"Maybe she's embarrassed about her title like Saya?" Tom suggested, getting a small glare from the teen.

"She definitely got [The Rat] as her title…" Kirito chuckled. "Wonder what she ended up looking like?"

"A Rat," the other four at the table stated with complete certainty.

"Rat tail, ears maybe?" Sayaka offered, eager to get back at the other girl who had been constantly teasing her.

"Going to have whiskers, definitely whiskers," Asuna chimed in with a grin. "Maybe even rat teeth!"

"NO RAT TEETH!"

The group look up to see Argo standing before them, in her usual getup, only she had a thin rat's tail poking out of her cloak with her painted whiskers having been replaced by real rat like whiskers. "Oh… my… god…" Tom breathed, his body shaking as chuckles started leaking out. "That… is hilarious…"

"Sure, sure, laugh it off…" she grumbled. "Sacchi sure looks like a succubus now with that title of hers though."

"At least that makes her look more like an adult," Agil pointed out, restraining his own laughter. "You just look even _more_ child-like."

"Well, speaking from a functional standpoint, this title enhances my stealth, so I can't really complain," she shrugged. "And I can easily ignore the whiskers and tail…"

"Let me guess, there's more to the changes then?" Asuna prodded with a sly grin.

"I'm even more sensitive to sound than usual," Argo slumped, her ears somehow twitching slightly.

"Well, you are a habitual eavesdropper," Tom commented as he brought himself under control. "What kind of perks do you get with it?"

"Being woken up by Tom and Sayaka testing out their changes," she blushed slightly.

Tom's face went blank as Sayaka went beet red. "If I see that information for sale Argo… I will find you… and I will hurt you," Tom said in a dangerously low voice. "Do you understand me?"

"You think I'd sell that kind of information?" Argo fired back. "That being said, I've received a lot of messages from my contacts about the new titles. Apparently Sacchi and I are pretty much the only ones with unique titles now - there are other people walking around with the [Protector] title too."

"Like mine then," Tom commented. "Any idea what the [Massive Armor] perk is then?"

Argo rolled her eyes. "Equip your armour," she said simply.

Tom raised his eyebrow, but acquiesced and equipped the armor. Instead of the usual chest pieces and gauntlets with shin guards, however, he was clad in full medieval plate mail that was on the bulky side, colored a bright silver color with several blue highlights, in addition, his shield, which look like a standard kite shield, was now a massive tower shield almost as tall as he was.

"Huh…" Tom said after a few seconds. "Odd… doesn't feel particularly heavy, feels… normal actually."

"Apparently it makes any armour you equip appear one magnitude stronger," Argo explained. "Light metal armour will appear to be heavy metal armour, and heavy metal armour… well, some of the [Protectors] tried that and ended up looking like Space Marines right out of Warhammer or StarCraft."

"Huh, interesting," Tom mused as he changed back to his normal clothing. "I'll have to forge some heavy armor for myself then."

"Wearing heavy armour also negates stun completely by the way," Argo added as an afterthought.

"Definately making heavy armor," Tom mused. "I take it the ores on this floor pertain to light armor?"

"Heavy actually," Argo smirked. "I'll show you the best mining places for a cheap price of 200 col."

Tom quickly opened the trading menu and gave her the money. "That's what _I'll_ be doing today," he announced. "You guys?"

"Farming mats for new armour… if I can get out of the city without being spotted," Sayaka's eyes once again darted to the window.

"Grinding," Kirito said without hesitation.

"I'll be looking around at the NPC stores, see if there's any good deals around," Agil commented.

"I'll go with Kirito-kun," Asuna nodded. "I want to get stronger…"

"Alright, sounds good then," Tom said as he stood up. "Want to hide under my cloak, Saya?" he questioned as he equipped his armor, plus a trailing cloak.

Sayaka ducked under the cloak…

Her wings stuck out from the sides.

"MUGIIIII!"

"Wow… this is going to be interesting," Tom muttered as he tried something else, taking off his cloak and wrapping it around Sayaka.

Her wings and tail seemed to phase through it and stuck out anyway.

"MUUUUUGIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

"I guess you're just going to have to suck it up, Saya," Tom said with a sigh as he pulled off his cloak.

"I'M NOT GOING OUT! I'M STAYING IN THIS INN FOREVER!" Sayaka yelled out loud, jumping out of her chair and clinging on to a table leg.

Tom sighed. "Saya," he said in a disappointed tone. "Must I bring in the reinforcements?"

"Reinforcements?" Sayaka looked at Tom, and turned to her other side as she felt multiple presences converging on her…

"Saya-chan… if you don't go out, you're not going to get any stronger…" Asuna whispered.

"And I'm not going out there like this alone, so you're definitely coming with us…" Argo joined in, reaching for Sayaka's tail.

Tom grabbed her hand. "Remember what woke you up?" he cautioned. "The tail is the cause."

"I know, but you used it to get her to release her grip on the bed, right?" Argo said with a cheeky look on her face. "If you don't do it again, she's not going to let go of that table."

"No… there is… _another_ way," Tom informed with an evil smile. "Kirito, Agil, grab her legs."

The two males quickly obliged.

Tom moved over and pulled off one of her shoes. "Last chance Saya," he told her. "Either let go and come out willingly… or else."

"Noooooo!" Sayaka squeaked, trying to wriggle her legs out of the males' grips.

"Or else it is then!" Tom declared, as he moved his hand to her foot…

And began to tickle it.

"MUGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Saya-chan," Asuna said calmly, crouching down near the teen. "If you let go and come out with us I'll make him stop~"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! STOP! STOP IT!" Sayaka yelled out, finally releasing her hold on the table leg.

Asuna nodded to Tom, who stopped his 'assault' on her foot and slid her shoe back on before Kirito and Agil let go of her legs. "See, no need for… _that-that-will-not-be-mentioned,_ " Tom declared.

"Pooh," Argo looked a little disappointed.

"Shall we get going, Saya?" Tom asked the pouting teen with a grin.

"Mugi," a very annoyed Sayaka took Tom's hand and stuck closely to his side.

Tom chuckled quietly as he slid his hand into hers and wrapped his fingers into her hand. "Just ignore those who stare," he whispered to her. "Anyone tries anything, and they get a healthy dose of my fist. "

"You can't punch _everyone_ on the street…" Sayaka murmured.

"I can punch enough to get the point across," Tom rebutted proudly.

Sayaka let out a nervous sigh as they approached the door leading outside. Her grip on Tom's hand tightened.

"Hey, it'll be alright," he whispered to her, returning the grip comfortingly. "I'm here for you."

She looked up at Tom with a disgruntled look. "You better be, after forcing me to go out like this."

Tom chuckled. "You want out of this game right?" he asked her with a small grin. "Well, how you going to get out staying inside this inn?"

"Mugi," she muttered, but didn't say anything else as Tom reached for the door.

The bright sunlight and the chatter of people going about their day greeted them as they stepped out into the streets. At least for a while. It took a few seconds, but quite a few people stopped upon seeing Sayaka step out into the street. That number soon began to multiply exponentially. Sayaka herself attempted to hide under Tom's cloak to no avail.

"Is that a new kind of mob!?" someone asked.

It had quite a few people drawing their weapons in a panic.

"Leave it be!" Tom called out loudly, an annoyed look on his face. "It's a result of the new [Title] system [Cardinal] introduced!"

"Wait, there's a title like that?"

"What kind of title is it?"

Sayaka peeped out from behind him slightly, eying the crowd suspiciously. "Come on out, Saya," Tom whispered to her. "They aren't going to attack."

The little demon let out a small whimper and withdrew back behind Tom, only for him to roll his eyes and not-so-gently push her out into the open. The crowd caught sight of the green icon floating over her head signifying that she was a player this time, as well as her IGN - Sayaka and the [Little Demon] title floating over it.

"Wow, it really is a title…"

"I didn't know they could do that…"

"C-Can I touch her wings and tail?"

Sayaka ducked back behind Tom, wrapping her tail around her leg.

"Touch her, and I punch you," Tom countered with a blank look, holding up his gauntlet covered fist. "With the gauntlet on, and remember, pain is active now."

"I-I'll pass…"

"Smart," Tom drawled. "Now, are we allowed to pass, or are you going to keep gawking like idiots at a zoo?"

The crowd parted a single line to let the party through.

Tom rolled his eyes as he took the lead, a glower on his face for those who seemed even tempted to reach out for Sayaka.

"Wow, that was tense," Agil commented as they left the crowd behind, only to run into more people staring at Sayaka on the next street as well.

A low growl rose up from the back of Tom's throat at some of the looks that the other players were sending their way. "If a path isn't clear soon," Tom called out. "Pain will be in your imminent future."

"This is going to take a while…" Kirito sighed.

"We're just about out of town," Tom said with a scowl at some of the players. "You alright, Saya?"

"Mugyaaa…" a muffled, somewhat forlorn moan came from under his cloak.

"Don't worry, they'll get adjusted to it eventually," Asuna assured her. "Especially when more unique titles appear."

"What if I get an even worse title in the future…?" her surrogate little sister whispered.

Asuna smiled kindly at her. "Then we will stand by you," she assured her. "Alright?"

"Mugiii…" Sayaka whimpered, but nodded anyway.

"Alright, there's the town gate," Kirito pointed out. "The ores you'd want are East of here."

"We're splitting up here?" Sayaka asked.

"Hm?" Kirito responded. "Well, the best place to do some grinding is in the West Forest, actually."

Sayaka looked torn between Tom and Asuna, as she kept looking between the two of the people that she had formed the closest bonds with.

"If you want to go with them, I'll be fine," Tom assured her with a smile. "Me and Argo should be fine."

Sayaka had swirls in her eyes.

Tom blinked at her. "Saya, you alright?" he asked her in concern.

"Tom-kun or Asuna-nee, Tom-kun or Asuna-nee…" she repeated, beginning to stumble around. Eventually she bumped into Tom's side anyway.

Tom chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her to steady her. "Is it really that tough of a choice?" he asked her in amusement.

Sayaka nodded groggily.

"Why don't you just flip a coin then?" Argo asked curiously.

Sayaka wrapped her arms around Tom's arm.

"I take it you're going to come with me then?" Tom asked her softly.

She nodded.

"Alright then, I guess we're going to meet up later then," Tom said to the others. "See ya tonight."

"See you!" Kirito waved as he headed off in the other direction together with Asuna, who also waved back.

"By the way, where's Argo-san?" Sayaka asked, looking around them.

"She was just here," Tom mentioned in confusion.

Tom received a message notification a moment later.

 _Just blending in with the crowd. I'll rejoin you outside the gates._

 _Argo_

Tom sighed and shook his head. "She's hiding in the crowd," he told Sayaka. "She'll meet us outside the gates."

"Oh," Sayaka scanned the area again, failing to find any trace of the elusive Rat. "Maybe she's ashamed of her tail like me."

"Or she just doesn't want to be completely linked to us," Tom pointed out. "Y'know, neutrality and all that."

"She's really good, I can't see her at all…" Sayaka muttered.

"Yup, she's a great sneaker, that's for sure," Tom agreed. "Probably could sneak past a boss when her levels are higher."

"I still wish she wouldn't talk about my body so much…" his partner blushed as she ducked back under his cloak and resumed their journey back towards the gates. "E-Even if you seem to like it a lot…"

"It's not that I enjoy, it's the sight of you expressing yourself so freely that makes me happy, Saya," he told her softly. "Trust me, I know how harmful it is to contain all your emotions."

Sayaka poked her head out from under the cloak to look at Tom shyly. "You know… I really did mean it when I said I'd even switch to bikini armour if you wanted me to…" she whispered.

Tom blushed slightly in response. "I'm fine with however you wish to dress, Saya," he said assuringly. "Really, I don't want you to change yourself for me."

"I mean… it seems like it'd be easier to move around in one… I just have to be very, very careful not to get hit…" Sayaka muttered.

"Which… can be difficult," Tom agreed. "One of the reasons I actually find myself liking the armor and shield to be honest."

"I just wish there was magic in the game. If I had some kind of barrier spell I could make it work…" Sayaka thought out loud.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and [Cardinal] will put one in," Tom mused. "It would be nice to work in Enchantments to my armor and weapons."

"Do you think there'll be magic to make me grow older?" Sayaka asked hopefully. "Or at least make me taller?"

Tom suppressed a snort of laughter at her question. "Saya, you're just fine the way you are," he assured her. "Anyone who says otherwise is just insecure with themselves."

"But it's just that I don't have as much reach with my katana…" she sighed, stretching her comparatively shorter arm out to illustrate. "Your arms are long enough that you don't have a problem attacking enemies at longer ranges than me, even with a shorter sword."

Tom shrugged. "That's just the luck of the draw sometimes, although when it comes down to it, you are faster than me, even when I'm not wearing my armor," he admitted as he rolled a shoulder. "So you do have that in your favor."

"Mugi. I want to grow up faster," Sayaka muttered, kicking a stone away.

Tom chuckled. "Enjoy your youth, Saya," he told her affectionately. "You only get it once unfortunately."

"But adults get to enjoy all those things we teens can't!" Sayaka grumbled. "Rides in theme parks with height limits, not having to wear a school uniform to college…"

Tom chuckled in amusement. "But you teens don't have to worry about paying bills, making sure the rent is paid on time, wondering if you paid the power company," he listed with a sigh.

Sayaka was developing swirls in her eyes again.

Tom ruffled her hair lightly as he laughed. "See, you teens have it easy, enjoy it while you can," he said to her. "I just hope my brother can hold all my stuff if my landlord decides to kick me out."

"I'll tackle that problem when it comes!" Sayaka declared, pumping both her fists. "In the meantime, since you already said that I can pass as an adult, treat me like one!" she turned to Tom eagerly.

Tom hummed in response as he eyed her slightly. "Are you sure?" he asked her slyly.

"Yeah!" she grinned, standing on tiptoe and shifting her odachi's sheath from where it had been hanging on her back to her side as they approached the gates, laying a confident hand on its grip. "I'm a big girl now after all!" she stuck her chest out proudly.

Tom snorted. "You do realize how silly you look right now, right?" he asked her teasingly, trying to keep his laughter under control.

An indignant, "Mugi!" preceded a jab into Tom's ribs with the grip of Sayaka's sword.

Tom laughed as he rubbed the spot she jabbed him at. "It'll come soon enough," he assured her. "I remember I always wanted to be as tall as my mom, and it actually happened, when I was 25."

"That's still 10 years more for me!" Sayaka grumbled, looking out at the forest before them.

"Patience, young one, patience," Tom chided like a venerable master. "All good things come to those who wait, now… where is Argo?"

"Right behind you."

Tom turned around with a raised eyebrow as Saya let out a small 'eep'. "Ah, there you are," he said with a grin. "Done skulking in the shadows then?"

"Unlike Sacchi's changes, mine are pretty easy to hide after all," Argo grinned, uncurling her tail from around a leg. "Took a while to figure out how to control it though."

"Yeah… I think suddenly having an extra appendage _would_ be difficult," Tom agreed. "So, where are we going from here, oh wise rat guide?"

"Easier than Sacchi, she has _three_ of those," Argo smirked cheerfully. "I'll guide you the whole way there, don't want you two getting lost now."

Tom nodded as he checked his sword and shield. "Alright, I'm good, let's do this!"

"I still don't get how the two of you can get lost so many times in _cities_ even with a _minimap_ to help you navigate…" Argo muttered under her breath as she broke into a sprint into the forest.

Tom sweatdropped as he followed after her, his armor clanking as he ran. "It's… best you don't ask," he told her. "It's… almost like Ryoga Hibiki."

"Except Ryoga Hibiki doesn't call it a 'scenic route'," Argo rolled her eyes.

Tom remained silent as a blush decorated his face.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, with Jordan's group**

* * *

Dennis yawned loudly as he walked down the stairs while wearing a red tunic and brown pants. As he walked down, he missed a step halfway down, tripped and fell the rest of the way while unleashing a wave of of profanities before he landed flat on his side.

"Mother*bleep*er! Wait a minute, did I just feel pain!?" Dennis yelled as he got up while the others laughed at his folly.

"Guess you didn't read the new update huh, Dennis?" Jordan said with a grin as he sat with the others eating breakfast wearing similar clothes.

"What *bleep*ing update!?" Dennis shouted angrily before he saw a notification about a new message on his HUD. He read it and let out a groan.

"Oh great, pain simulator 2023. That's something we definitely need in this damn game…" Dennis said as he sat at the table and grabbed a biscuit to eat.

"Maybe next time, you'll read updates sooner rather than later. Anyway these titles seem interesting…" Rosa said as she drank some herbal tea.

"Yeah, apparently they give you some stats buffs, but only based on what people call you or what role you do a lot," Lux said.

"I'm more interested in the bow weapons that are available now. Wonder how much the vendors sell them for?" Jordan mused.

"Probably more than the materials are worth. Think you can craft them Dennis?" Ron asked

"Uhh, let me check…" Dennis opened his menu and navigated to the crafting section, reading over it a few times before closing it. "Apparently I can make the basic bow, but I need to grind some more for the crossbow. Shouldn't take long. That reminds me I need to go to the auction house and stores to get the materials for our daily equipment maintenance and for Ron's sword. Rosa, you need any ingredients?"

"We're good at the moment, but I wouldn't mind checking out what this floor has for alchemists. By the way, I can now make those grenades Ryu used in the boss fight, but I need some items for practice."

"Oh great, now we can play hot potato with the ye old hand grenades." Dennis groaned. "I just hope no idiots blow their hands off, especially with pain being turned on."

"Man, that would suck. But Dennis, what do you need to go for the AH for?" Jordan asked.

"I need some [Scrap Steel] for a sword I want to make, as well as add an extra [Durability] upgrade to Ron's new Kilij. It might not cut as well as that Odachi Ryu's girlfriend has, but it will definitely beat it in practical use.

"What's wrong with the Odachi?" Lux asked curiously.

"Well, apart from having the same crappy durability as the katana, the sword is almost impractical if you're not on horseback. You can't draw it as quickly as other swords, since you can only carry it by putting it on your back, or unless you already have it on hand. But I remember reading of a style where you could draw it faster by the waist if you remove the sheath instead. Plus the swordplay is limited to downward cuts only. Finally making these damn things are annoying and difficult. Luckily I was able to make one a couple of days ago and sell it at the AH, making a pretty good profit."

"Wait, you're selling stuff in AH?" Jordan asked

"Only if I can make it and there is a demand for it. I know there's a lot of katana cultists in this game who'd rather buy the sword for the cool factor than the practical uses and durability. Then again I should give some slack to that sword. That girl was somehow able to make good use of it. Don't know how she survived that blow from Asterius during the first round. I guess the power of her 'mugis' gives her luck… which reminds me, what the hell does that mean anyway?" Dennis asked as he stared at the two Japanese girls.

"Umm, it's a bit complicated," Rosa scratched her head, trying to figure out how to explain it to Dennis. "It's more or less a custom expression."

Dennis shook his head.

"Whatever. I'm going to step out to get the stuff we need. Any requests?

"Kayaba's head on a pike would be nice, but I'll settle for a kilij and a backup khepesh."

"Khepesh as well. Anything else?"

"Cake!" Lux shouted before everyone gave her a stare then sighed.

"Alright, I'm leaving, see you guys in a hour or so."

"Wait up, I'm coming as well! I want to get started making those grenades," Rosa called out, as she left her seat.

"Good to have some company. Let's go," Dennis said, as the two stepped out the door.

* * *

 **END CHAPTER!**


	6. Third Floor: Coming Together

Disclaimer: Buy the official release, which this is not.

* * *

 **Ulla Alari Marketplace**

* * *

The marketplace of the elven city was no different from other marketplace in SAO with many shops and vendors alike selling their products but the only difference was that its NPCs were mostly elves and only a handful of humans. Scenery wise there was still a lot of masonry as per the standard architecture for the game for its streets and buildings but the windows were replaced with beautiful mosaics depicting different parts of nature, particularly various art depictions of the grand forest outside of the city. Everywhere Rossa and Dennis walked there were many colorful flowers by the buildings and some on the street. As they walked they were surprised to see more and more players in the area. Some in plain clothes while others with their armors on.

"It's so weird being in a place like this…" Rossa said as she followed Dennis, looking at all of the items the vendors were selling. "You know it's virtual, but it's so real…"

"One of the good things about the game I suppose," Dennis said, "They spared no expense making everything as realistic as possible… even more so than Dark Souls."

"Do you _ever_ stop talking about that game?" Rossa asked with a slightly accusing yet playful glare as Dennis shrugged.

"What can I say, I _love_ it." He said grinning, "I just want more things from Dark Souls in here… or at least things that work similarly."

"Well, what other games did you play?" Rossa asked curiously, "You know, before all of this?"

"A bit of everything, really." Dennis replied, "I mostly liked playing RPGs and strategy games. One RTS game I practically worshipped was Empire at War. It's an older game but they have a good modding community which me and Jordan have mods from. What about you?"

"I guess you could say I'm more casual with my video games. I'd rather play light hearted games with a good story like Kingdom Hearts, but I like to play a few horror games from time to time but finding a decent horror game is like finding oil in your backyard…"

"Ain't that the truth. I think you might get along with my girlfriend back home if you two were to meet," Dennis said as he looked at a flowerbed before passing it

"A girlfriend? You?" Rossa snorted, a look of disbelief stretched across her face.

"Hey even neckbeards get some love." Dennis said defensively. "Anyway if she's smart she would leave me for someone better. I don't know how long I'll be here and I'd rather not make her heart ache because of my account. She already has her own personal problems to deal with anyway," he added somberly.

"Oh, leave that dramatic crap alone! If she really loved you, she'd stay plus you'll get out of here. I just know it! So don't be a dumbass sap and say stupid nonsense like that! Not all of us are happy alone you know." Rossa said with an annoyed tone.

"I take it you're single?"

Rossa sighed before she turned to Dennis with a downturned gaze. "Look, I'm sorry if that sounded mean but I don't really have the luxury of finding guys to date to my hearts content."

"How come?" Dennis asked curiously.

"Well believe it or not, I'm the daughter of corporate head for a large pharmaceutical company in Tokyo. When I was a kid my parents set up an arranged marriage with some guy from a rival company. I'm supposed to marry him after high school and that would unite both companies and families." Rossa said sadly as she saw a happy NPC couple pass them.

"Jesus Christ, they still do that kind of thing in Japan? I thought that was some anime bullshit they show to add some drama. I thought that was a thing of the past by now. We are in the 2020s for crying out loud!" Dennis said in utter belief.

"Unfortunately traditions never go out of style where I live. I just hope the guy isn't too bad."

"Wait you don't even know the guy!? What the hell!?"

"Welcome to my world. I swallowed that pill a long time ago, it's not like I can do anything about it."

"Bullshit! You can't just give up and take it like that Rose! I may not know you as much but you're definitely better than that!"

"Just stop it already!" Rossa shouted with a few tears coming out causing others to turn around toward the commotion.

"Rose," Dennis said softly as he tried to put a hand on her shoulder before she slapped it away.

"A GAIJIN LIKE YOURSELF KNOWS NOTHING! If I don't do this my family's company won't survive! " Rossa said as she broke down in tears.

Dennis kneeled down and looked at Rossa's face and tried to wipe down her tears.

"Look Rossa I get it. You care about your family but you can't just sacrifice your happiness just because of that. There got to be another way," Dennis said in a conforming tone.

"There isn't. C-can we please just continue and change the subject. Please?" Rossa said as she got up and wiped away her tears.

Dennis sighed while scratching the back of his head.

"Alright. Look, I'm sorry. I'm sometimes not that great in social cues, but I just care, okay?"

"I know Dennis… I know. Let's talk about something else."

"Well what were you planning to do after SAO before the whole death game started?"

"Well I was going to do some biology essay which ironically was about the NERV gear."

"You're kidding!?" Dennis said with a baffled look

"It's the true. It was fifteen paged essay and I had about eight done before being trapped here. What about you?"

"Well I was going to eat a bit then take my dogs out. After that I was going to Jordan's house to mooch off his pizza rolls and pockys then keep on playing before going to work the next day."

"Heh, I can definitely see how you got you're large figure." Rossa snickered while Dennis rolled his eyes.

"Well at least with the job I have, it's been acting like an exercise. Just wish they gave me more hours. Don't know how Jordan's grocery store hasn't cut any hours over there but I am getting an entire week off which is common. Guess that don't matter anymore since we are stuck here."

"Yeah. Oh! Look it's the AH and there's the stores we need to go." Rossa pointed out.

The two stores were conveniently placed next to the auction house. On the left there were was an alchemy shop filled with various ingredients and flora run by a female elf. While on the right was a smithing store with a large forge area next to it. A big fat human NPC was pounding some hot metal in the anvil. In the middle of the AH was a large group of players all bidding and selling their various items.

"Alright we got about 10,000 col plus the large amount of loot we got from the second floor. That should be somewhere about 5,000 to 10,000 col. We split half of the money and loot then we sell it, afterwards we buy all the stuff we need. If you see any extra ingredients buy them. We'll meet back here in fifteen minutes or so. Any questions?"

"None whatsoever."

"Alright good see you in a bit." Dennis said as the two separated and went into the shops.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - with Saya & Tom**

* * *

"Lots of mats, lots of mats~" Sayaka sang as she skipped along the road heading back to Ulla Alari.

Tom chuckled as he walked at a more sedated pace than his partner. "It definitely was a good haul," he agreed. "I should be able to make some damn good armor with this."

"I wonder if it would be possible to make you look like a Gundam?" Sayaka mused. "Maybe using heavy samurai-style armour…"

Tom raised his eyebrow in response. "I'm going to say no to the first," he quickly shot the idea down. "And the second really clashes with my European broadsword and shield motif."

"Who cares, you can be an European Gundam!" Sayaka exclaimed cheerfully, her tail wagging behind her mirroring her feelings. "Just put on a samurai helmet and you get the V-fin already!"

Tom sighed in response, shaking his head, although there was a small grin on his face. "I don't think I'll be wearing helmets anytime soon," he told her. "Blocks my range of vision too much."

"You could try it on just once!" his partner laughed, walking backwards in front of him. "I'm sure you'll look cool."

"Maybe," he said with a sly grin, rubbing at his chin "It all depends on the motivation though."

"So you really want to see me walking around in bikini armour in exchange?" Sayaka asked a little too shamelessly.

Tom blinked in surprise. "Wow… that was a little quick," he said after a handful of seconds. "What's bringing about this change?"

"I was expecting it, it wouldn't have been fair if you were the only one walking around all dressed up nicely," Sayaka giggled.

Tom hummed in response. "Well, not quite what I was expecting, but… I suppose we could do that," he told her. "For a little while at least, like I said, I hate how it puts blocks on my vision."

"If you want a bit more out of it, I could even sit on your lap dressed like that and let you touch my tail," Sayaka offered.

"When have you become so shameless?" Tom asked after staring at the teen for several seconds.

"Maybe becoming a [Little Demon] flipped a switch or something?" Sayaka laughed as she walked back towards Tom, adding a bit of a sashay into her walk, exaggerating the sway of her hips and winking at him seductively.

Tom raised an eyebrow at her. "Careful now, you might just bite off more than you can chew," he said warningly.

"Like how?" she whispered slowly, coming to a stop in front of Tom and leaning forward just enough for him to get a very good look into the cavern between her 'assets'.

Tom smirked in response. "Like this," he told her right before he suddenly scooped her into his arms and deeply kissed her.

"Ugyaa!?" Sayaka let out a surprised, if a little muffled squeak, before she slowly relaxed into the kiss.

Tom pulled her closer to him as their kiss intensified, moaning slightly into it.

Sayaka let out a husky moan, relishing in the heat from Tom's lips. Her eyes rolled slightly upwards.

Finally the need for air became too great and Tom pulled away from the dazed Sayaka with a slight gasp. "Learnt your lesson?" he mumbled out.

"No," she whispered. "I was just teasing you, but you got all serious about it…"

Tom let out a husky chuckle in response. "Well, I have been wanting to do that for a while," he admitted.

"We… can do it again if you like," Sayaka smiled dreamily. "It's a good thing Argo-san decided to head back to the city earlier…"

"Mmm," Tom agreed with a hum. "So… Saya… what, are we?"

"We could be girlfriend and boyfriend?" she suggested happily, fluttering her eyelashes. "Or if you want to take it a step up, lovers?"

Tom shook his head. "I don't think _either_ of us are ready for _that_ step," he denied gently. "But, boyfriend and girlfriend, I can agree to that."

"Then we're girlfriend and boyfriend!" Sayaka grinned, before deflating slightly. "Although… I'm really not sure how to go about being a proper girlfriend… or what the limits are. I think watching too much anime has kind of warped my sense about this stuff…"

Tom smiled as he brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. "That's alright, I'm… kinda inexperienced as well to be honest," he admitted. "We can both discover that together, and remember, what works for us, works for us."

The silverette brightened up considerably. "Yay!" she cheered.

Tom smiled at her. "Want another kiss?" he asked her in a half-teasing voice.

"Sure!" Sayaka laughed, this time initiating it herself by pulling herself up to his eye level and pressing her lips against his.

Tom wrapped his arms around her waist in response.

"Is this really the time to be starting a romance, while trapped in this damned death game…?" a disgruntled voice spoke up, coming from a group of players just exiting the city gates ahead of them. "These jokers are too relaxed…"

Sayaka practically leapt out of Tom's arms, interrupting the kiss and landed on the ground, her cheeks burning bright red in embarrassment.

Tom sighed and glared at the players. "And virgins who don't have any game are not allowed to make an opinion known," he retorted with a scowl.

The other group just bristled and left the scene without saying anything.

"I-I-I can't believe I just did that in front of a group of other people…" Sayaka whispered, burying her burning cheeks in Tom's side.

"Well, don't worry, doesn't have to be that intimate in public," he told her, kissing her on the cheek. "And ignore them, they're just jelly."

"Jelly?" Sayaka repeated, her head tilted sideways in a show of confusion.

"Slang, it means jealous," Tom clarified his eyes twinkling with mirth. "They just can't get a girl as beautiful as you are."

The girl took a few moments to digest the information as a compliment, before her cheeks went even redder and steam started escaping from her ears. "A-As it should be!" she declared, folding her arms over her chest. "B-But you're giving me a swollen head, Tom-kun…"

"Well, it _is_ a boyfriend's prerogative to compliment his girlfriend," he answered, pulling her close. "And that is one thing I _will_ be doing."

Sayaka ducked her head in embarrassment. "Not in public…" she whispered, looking at the open city gates looming before them, as well as the people milling about in the streets contained within.

"Want to go somewhere more private then?" he asked her with a smirk.

"Maybe not now," she squirmed. "We still have stuff to do…"

Tom chuckled. "Alright then," he agreed, stepping back a bit, although he did take hold of her hand. "Shall we go?"

"Let's go to the market district first, see what's on sale," Sayaka suggested. "And I'm hungry too…"

"Mm, getting that gnawing feeling in my stomach too," Tom agreed. "I hope these aren't the vegetarian elves, I want me some MEAT."

"Meat…" Sayaka almost started drooling. "The food's been getting better and better since the 1st floor…"

Tom nodded. "It's almost like they've been improving on the immersion stuff, like with them adding pain and blood," he agreed. "It's… kinda disturbing,"

"I'd really hate Kayaba if he took proper food away from us," Sayaka agreed with a nod. "Maybe he really wants us to live properly in this world…"

"And that brings up more disturbing thoughts," Tom mumbled, more to himself than her. "Anyways, let's see what they have to offer around here."

* * *

 **Meanwhile - With Jordan & Lux**

* * *

"BOOM HEADSHOT!"

"They're just target dummies, Jordan..."

"Who cares? I LOVE THIS THING!"

Lux sighed, facepalming as Jordan pulled out another Arrow before drawing his wooden bow back, and letting loose another arrow, hitting the dummy right in the neck. "Oh! Right in the neck!" He said grinning. "Thank You Kayaba for _finally_ adding these!"

"You like to switch between hating him and thanking him you know." Lux commented.

"Depends on the mood." He said as he drew out another bow, and let it loose, hitting the target again. "Though I want to max out my Bow stats ASAP. I feel much safer taking enemies out from a distance before they can see me, than charging in like a barbarian with a club."

"Yeah… but Arrows probably only do so much..." Lux said as she sat on top of a hay bail. "I mean… they're small… I thought they'd be more useful for hunting than fighting..."

"They're useful for that too, but they're none the less deadly." He said with a small smirk, "Even a pine needle can be lethal if used correctly… and these are some pretty damn big pine needles in case you didn't notice."

Lux just shook her head "You're obsessed with those things," she said, "Anyone mistake you for an elf or something? You'd probably make a good… what was the Elf from Lord of the Rings called again?"

"Legolas - and no." He retorted, as he prepared another shot. "I ain't no Orlando Bloom, I'd look terrible with Elf Ears."

"Oh you don't know that." Lux said shrugging, "It could be fun!"

"No." Jordan said, as he fired off another shot. "I'm not an Elf."

"You're no fun..."

* * *

 **Ulla Alari Market, with Tom and Saya**

* * *

"Hungry hungry hungry…" Sayaka muttered, dragging her feet along the ground.

She still hated that she was STILL getting a lot of stares from the other players, but she was slowly getting accustomed to it.

Didn't mean she liked it.

"And yet another vegetarian place," Tom growled angrily, his eye twitching as the lack of meat and the stares were beginning to try on his patiences. "Saya… do you just want to hunt those deer like passive monsters we saw?"

"Sure… we can always ask Asuna-nee to cook it for us…" Sayaka murmured, the gnawing hunger beginning to take its toll on her usual energy.

"Hey, what about me, I can cook too you know!" Tom protested with an offended expression.

"Asuna-nee cooks better…" she replied, clutching at her stomach.

Tom glowered at her but relented. "Well, it'll give us a chance to test out our new bows," he said, patting the longbow that he had equipped.

Sayaka nodded in agreement, looking over her shoulder at the shortbow on her back - she HAD tried to equip a longbow, but when it materialized on her back, it turned out that she'd just drag it along the ground as she moved because of her height, and she wouldn't have been able to draw it properly anyway. She let out a disgruntled sigh, "Mugi."

"Don't worry, shortbows are actually better for close-ranged combat," Tom assured, as he changed his gear to woodland colored clothing to better fit in with the woods. "Get up close to a longbow, and they can't do much."

"But I want to use it for long-ranged attacks! What's the point if I have to get close to use it?" Sayaka puffed out her cheeks in a pout. "Maybe I'll just get a crossbow instead if they come out. Mugi."

"Might be a good idea, but I've always been a bow man," he told her with a grin. "Now, let's hunt some meat shall we?"

"Just let me equip my new armour first…" Sayaka nodded, bringing up her menu and navigating to the equipment section.

Moments later, she had switched from her previous leather clothes into a set of even lighter cloth armour, consisting of a frilly white tube top under a black sleeveless half-jacket, a pair of shorts with armour plates on the sides, fingerless black gloves and heavy boots. If anything, the new set was almost as revealing as her previous one.

Tom blinked in surprise. "Changed your outfit again?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"W-Well… apparently elven armour have some kind of special cloth that has higher defense than normal cloth… and it was dropping from the mobs I was farming earlier…" she blushed. "Is it… weird?"

Tom shook his head. "Very cute, yet sexy, at the same time," he told her, a sly grin on his face.

A puff of steam escaped from Sayaka's ears as she looked away from him hurriedly. The red coloration spreading to her shoulders was unmistakeable though. "T-Tom-kun, you pervert…" she whispered, wrapping her arms around her chest.

"Hey, I'm your boyfriend, shouldn't I be allowed to admire you?" Tom asked teasingly.

"W-Which part of me are you admiring anyway?" she asked, still not turning around. "My chest, my waist, my butt, or my legs?"

"Quite honestly?" he questioned. "All of it, it is like looking at perfection."

A larger puff of steam escaped her ears.

"What are you so embarrassed about?" Tom asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "It's the truth, scout's honor."

"W-We're still in public…" she whispered, her eyes darting around the people milling about the crowd staring at them.

"They can all just bugger themselves," he whispered to her. "As far as I'm concerned, it's just us."

"Mugyuu…" Sayaka whimpered, but made no move to extricate herself from Tom's hold. "Umm… weren't we going to hunt deer?" she said.

Tom chuckled. "Sure," he agreed, moving so that they were side by side, one of his arms around her waist. "How's this?"

"Do you _have_ to do this in public…?" she squirmed slightly.

"Mm… well I don't _have_ to," he agreed, slowly pulling his arm away. "If that's what you want…"

Sayaka grabbed his hand and held it. "Just… holding hands for now, in public," she sighed.

Tom chuckled. "Alright, handholding it is," he agreed easily as they walked through the marketplace. "So how is it-"

"What do you mean 300 Col, this is barely worth 50!" an angry feminine voice shouted out, drawing their attention towards a Player Controlled stand.

"Look, miss, the materials I need to make this potion are harder to come by than others. I need to earn back my investment's worth, you know!?" the man behind the counter leaned forward.

"Bull, all you need for this potion is [Head of Wheat] and some [Rough Ivy Leaves]!" a tall blonde haired woman with angry blue eyes shouted in return, her light blue sun dress clinging tightly to her slim frame as she leaned forward.

"And I added some extra ingredients for some extra kick!" the seller argued. "Those extra stuff just don't appear in the description!"

"There is no extra kick for this potion, it's a simple [Boost Health], I've made them before, you can't boost it any further than its base stats!" the woman shot back.

"You've never experimented with the stuff enough before, eh?" the seller folded his arms smugly. "You buy it, you find out what the kick is. Take it or leave it."

"Go sod yourself with a soldering iron," the woman cursed as she stepped back. "I wouldn't even _touch_ the crud you sell!"

"Go ahead then," the man taunted. "But just know, you're missing out on some damn good stuff…"

"Do you mind?" Tom asked as he gestured to the potion bottle.

"See, this man has the right idea!" the seller grinned, pushing the bottle towards Tom.

Tom picked it up and opened a sub-menu to analyze it, after a few seconds it came back with a response. "This… is _worse_ than NPC made ones, no added side effects or anything!" he revealed in disgust.

Realizing he had been had, the guy began to sweat a little. "I… made it taste like beer," he quickly said.

"Still not worth 300 col, especially if you can't get drunk from it," Tom and the woman deadpanned in eerie unison.

"Well, a kick's still a kick!" the guy protested. "Fine, I'll make it 100 col!"

"That 'kick' could get us frontliners killed with subpar effects!" Tom shouted angrily. "I'm not even considering buying these things!"

"Fine, fine! Have it your way!" the guy threw his hands in the air as he began to pack up his store with a few quick taps on his menu. "What's wrong with a little beer, anyway?" he grumbled as he began to walk off only to come face to face with a head of silver hair.

"Mister, cheating people is bad," Sayaka said, her emotionless facade back in place.

"It's business, little brat," the man snarled, shoving her aside roughly. "Out of my way!"

 ***thwack***

"GAH!" the scammer screamed out as he clutched his family jewels, falling over face first as he did so. The culprit, a certain silverette, hurriedly scampered off back to Tom's side.

"And you deserved that *Bleep*hole!" the woman said to him in disdain, before turning to the pair. "Thanks for that, I'm Branwen."

Sayaka clung to Tom's arm possessively.

"I'm Ryu, and this here is Sayaka," Tom said by way of introduction. "And no worries, I hate asses like that."

"Nice to meet you," Branwen said, her eyes darting to Sayaka's… _assets_ that were currently nestling Ryu's arm between them. "You said you're a frontliner, right?"

"Yeah, it's been tough, glad to see that there are some who are calling out the Player-Merchants on their shit," Tom agreed with a heavy sigh. "Stuff like what that guy was trying to sell can only make things worse against Boss Fights…"

"Well… I've been wanting to get on the Front Lines myself," Branwen admitted, a hint of red dusting her cheeks as she looked at Tom. "Do you think you two can show me the ropes?"

Tom let out a hum of consideration. "I think we may be able to," he said musingly. "What do you think, Saya?"

"If you're okay with it, Tom-kun," Sayaka replied blandly, still clinging onto Ryu possessively.

"Alright then, we were actually about to go out hunting anyways," Tom informed. "So let's go, what weapon do you use?"

"Two handed spears," Branwen replied with a grin as she quickly navigated through her menu and equipped the spear, which appeared on her back. It was a pretty standard steel spear for their floor. "Pretty good at mid range."

Tom nodded. "Alright, there should be some basic monsters near the hunting grounds," he assured. "We can help you grind out some levels while doing some hunting of our own."

Branwen nodded, confirming her agreement to the plan. "Thanks a lot," she said gratefully. "There are some who have… _less_ than stellar agendas around here, so, hopefully I can count on you."

"What level are you?" Sayaka asked.

"Ah… 13, just about 14," Branwen answered with an embarrassed chuckle as she scratched at the side of her nose. "Is… is that to low?"

"17," Sayaka said blankly.

"Same," Tom agreed. "It shouldn't be _too_ hard to boost you up to our level, just going to make sure you don't charge head first into a mob or something."

Branwen chuckled weakly. "Yeah… that would be bad," she perked up though as she looked at Tom with a bright smile. "I'll look forward to your instructions, then, teacher!"

Sayaka tightened her grip on Tom's arm.

Tom looked down at Sayaka curiously for a moment as she somehow pulled off a blank glare at the blonde. "Alright then, but, just call me Ryu," he told her. "Best place is the eastern forest from what I've heard, let's get going."

"Right!" Branwen shouted enthusiastically as she skipped up to walk beside him, the small group heading for the gate.

* * *

 **Eastern Forest**

* * *

"Hya!" Branwen shouted out as she made a broad sweep with her spear, catching the monster wolf spawn in the stomach, depleting the final few points of its health. "Ha… ha… ha… These things are tough," she moaned out.

Sayaka was cleaning house with the wolves, sweeping one off its feet with a swing of her feet while lashing out with her odachi to slice another one's neck off as it pounced at her. She seemed to be fighting harder than usual.

"You seem to have a fire lit up under you, Saya," Tom commented mildly as he held off a quartet of wolves himself, making broad sweeping motions with his shield to throw them off balance before slicing into them with his sword. "Something up?"

"Nothing," Sayaka replied shortly, [Sprinting] past a wolf with her weapon held outstretched, cutting its legs out from under it before she stopped, performed a backflip and drove it into the skull of yet another wolf.

Tom let out an unconvinced hum as he shoved his sword into the skull of another wolf before using his shield to smash another's skull in.

Meanwhile, Branwen was looking at the pair in disbelief. "How do you two make this look so _easy?_ " she asked incredulously.

"Lots and lots of practice," Tom retorted dryly, before looking at his tower shield. "As cool as these are, I actually don't like this shield and the heavy armor," he admitted, a frown flickering on his face. "Not mobile enough for my tastes to be honest."

"Become a Gundam," Sayaka seemed quite intent on turning Tom into a mecha.

Tom rolled his eyes as Branwen looked between the two in confusion. "I'll only do it once, Saya, and that's only because it's for you," he told her with a slight smirk. "But chances are, I'll switch to light in order to get medium armor again."

"Mugi," the odachi user managed to sound disappointed even with the emotionless tone she was using, as she sheathed her weapon by her side and scanned the surroundings. "We've cleared the area."

"Wow… you are… _really_ good at this, Ryu," Branwen praised as she looked around. "I mean, I only killed two of them, and there were _ten_ to begin with!"

Tom shrugged in response. "It's all about practicing your skills is all," he instructed. "So long as you can perform them in your sleep without the System Assist, then you're golden."

"Wait, you mean using [Sword Skills]... _without_ the game helping you?" Branwen asked for clarification, her eyes widening in shock. "Is… is that even possible?"

"Understand the flow of the [Sword Skill], go along with it and don't fight it," Sayaka nodded sagely. "It can actually increase the speed of your skills if you understand how to use it, like with Asuna-nee."

"Those [Linears] of hers are something else," Tom agreed with a nod. "Alright, we've got our meat and leveled up our bow skills a bit, how are you feeling with your level?"

"Well… just about level 17 now," Branwen said as she consulted her character sheet. "I think I should level up if we run into any more mobs on our way back, but I feel confident about it."

Tom nodded, checking the time. "We should be heading back now anyways," he announced, looking over to Sayaka. "Since you are so insistent on Asuna being the one to cook dinner."

"Asuna-nee is the best cook in our group!" Sayaka regained some of her usual cheer at the mention of her surrogate sister as she folded her arms proudly.

Branwen tilted her head slightly as she stared at Sayaka as Tom began muttering in the background about getting no respect. "Are you bipolar or something, because you are switching moods really fast," she questioned bluntly. "It… doesn't seem normal."

Sayaka opened her mouth, before closing it and ducking behind Tom, poking her head out to glare at Branwen.

"It's personal," he told the blond, placing a hand on top of Sayaka's head comfortingly. "Drop it at that."

"A-ah," Branwen stuttered out, surprised at the force behind his voice as he leveled a stern look at her, not quite a glare, but definitely one that sent warning shivers down her back. "S-sorry, that… was out of line of me, you have my sincerest apologies."

Sayaka had completely relaxed under Tom's hand, and was leaning against his side with her eyes closed. "Munyaaa…"

Tom chuckled as he began to slowly massage her scalp. "She accepted," he translated. "What do you plan on doing now?"

Branwen fiddled nervously with the shaft of her spear at the question, nervous looks darting to Tom's face before she answered. "Well, I was wondering… do you guys have room in your party for one more?" she asked hopefully. "I mean, aside from my spear, I also got a pretty good alchemy score and can save you money with Health Potions and such…"

Sayaka was still too distracted by Tom's head massage to respond properly.

Tom himself was humming in consideration. "I'll have to talk about it with the rest of our usual party members," he told her. "Right now we're pretty much full up with a drifter coming in and out at times."

Somewhere in the distance, a certain whiskered girl let out a loud sneeze, causing her to reveal her presence to a group of rather… belligerent customers.

"The answer will depend on if we decide to form a proper [Guild] or stick as a party," he continued, completely unaware of what he caused. "I'll have to let you know later."

Branwen sighed and nodded. "Better than a complete refusal, that's something at least," she said with a hesitant smile. "Should we add each other to our friend list so that we can keep in contact?"

Tom nodded in agreement as he opened his menu, taking his hand off Sayaka's head in the process. "Good idea," he agreed.

"Munyaa?" Sayaka murmured at the sudden loss of service, while her mind rebooted and began to process what was going on. "Friend list?"

"To keep in contact with each other," he informed her. "It's always good to have an alchemist as a contact."

Sayaka began glaring at Branwen again.

Branwen let out a sweatdrop at the stare as she nervously avoided eye contact. "Well, shall we get going back to the town?" she asked. "After all, you need to meet up with your friends, right?"

Tom nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's get going," he announced. "Ready, Saya?"

Sayaka nodded back as she moved closer to Tom protectively, pulling his arm into her bosom again.

Branwen narrowed her eyes at the younger girl as she grit her teeth, trying to keep an angry twitch from forming above her eye. "Stupid cow-chested little girls," she muttered angrily under her breath.

"You say something?" Tom called back, distractedly, trying to figure out why Sayaka was acting so possessively.

"Nothing!" Branwen called out in return, forcing cheer into her voice as she jogged to catch up.

"Branwen-san, don't you have any other friends here?" Sayaka asked, still clinging to Tom.

"Ah… actually, no," Branwen admitted with a weak chuckle. "My friends weren't able to get the game at launch."

"So you don't have anyone else to play with," Sayaka concluded with a very slight frown.

Branwen shook her head. "No, and honestly, I'm not skilled enough to go solo," she frowned sadly. "I'm actually pretty weak IRL too…"

"I think a lot of Gamers have that issue, so don't beat yourself up with it too much," Tom assured her, patting her back a bit. "Just gotta work on your skills and you'll be fine."

Branwen gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks," she replied, a small blush on her face. "I really hope that I can join up with you guys later, I'd feel more… comfortable with someone I can trust."

Sayaka narrowed her eyes, pulling Tom's arm in deeper.

Tom blinked down at Sayaka in confusion before looking back to Branwen. "Well, worse comes to worse, I can always refer you to a person I know who _is_ making a [Guild]," he told her with a shrug. "He's not a bad guy, although he does have his moments of delusions of grandeur."

Branwen raised her eyebrow. "Delusions of grandeur?" she questioned in confusion.

"He's the kind of guy who'd scream out Leeroy Jenkins when going into a boss fight," Tom clarified. "I may punch him if he tries it."

"Your friends are weird," Sayaka reiterated.

Tom sighed in depression. "Don't I know it," he agreed for the thousandth time, his head hanging as a dark cloud seemed to hang overtop of his head. "It makes me so depressed…"

"Right…" Branwen said slowly, a sweatdrop appearing on the back of her head. "Well, there are the gates, I… I really hope that you guys form a guild… later…" she gave them a hesitant smile before waving to them as she darted away, most likely heading for her own hotel.

"Well," Tom drawled out with a sigh. "I suppose we should get back to our rooms. Best get this meat to Asuna so that she can make something to eat, eh, Saya?"

Sayaka nodded, staring after Branwen as the older girl left. "Tom-kun, she's interested in you," she added with narrowed eyes.

Tom blinked as he stared at Sayaka. "What are you talking about, Saya?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow. "We just met."

"It's a girl's intuition!" she declared, still holding tight onto Tom. The intimate position was starting to cause a few players nearby to gawk at the audacity of the well-endowed girl.

Tom sighed and smiled down at her. "It'll be alright," he assured as he placed a hand on her head. "It'll be alright, I ain't planning on leaving you."

"I still don't want her to try and take you away…" Sayaka murmured, her tail wagging left and right violently. She felt it and shot a glare at the annoying tail.

Tom chuckled in response. "Don't worry, not even acts of God will take me away from you," he told her soothingly.

"You had better keep your word…" she nodded. "But… are you sure you don't like more mature women?" she began dragging her feet slightly.

Tom chuckled. "I like the person who I connect to," he told her, cupping her cheek. "And _you_ who are I am connected to."

Sayaka turned red and began sputtering.

"Get a room, you two!"

"Go shove it up your *bleep*!" Tom cursed back snappishly before ignoring the man and lowering his voice to a whisper, "Although he does have a good point."

Sayaka ducked her head in shame. "C-Can the romantic stuff wait until after food…?" she asked in a low tone.

Tom chuckled as he patted her head. "Of course," he assured her. "But you have nothing to be ashamed about, alright?"

"T-Tom-kun, remember what I told you about my past…" she whispered. "I'm only just barely alright with wearing these when you're with me…"

Tom smiled at her softly. "It's alright," he whispered into her ear as he pulled her into a gentle hug. "I'm here for you, I always will be."

"Not in public!" she hissed, but didn't really fight back.

Tom chuckled. "Come on, let's get to the hotel," he told her, adjusting their position so that they were side by side, his arm around her waist. "My virtual stomach is rumbling."

"Yeah," Sayaka nodded slowly, trying to look anywhere but at the crowd around them, apparently most of them still not used to seeing a [Little Demon] walking around. "…When do you think they'll get used to my appearance?" she asked.

"Probably when more unique titles are assigned," Tom assured. "Which shouldn't be too far off with the [Front Liners]."

"But the thing is… these titles are unique…" Sayaka complained. "It means I'll still be the only one walking around as a [Little Demon] in the end."

"Who says it's a bad thing?" Tom questioned. "It makes you a celebrity."

"Mugi! I don't want to be a celebrity!" Sayaka deflated visibly.

"It'll be alright," he assured her. "As we expand the [Front Lines] less and less [Rear Liners] will see you."

"I guess you have a point…" Sayaka shuffled anxiously, looking up at the signs. "I just hope I don't get something like [Succubus] in the future…"

"Well… that would make things… interesting," Tom mused with a slight blush on his face. "Tom, man, get those images out of your head."

"Tom-kun, you pervert," Sayaka hadn't missed what he was saying.

Tom chuckled. "A sad fact of the male condition," he admitted as he shook his head in mock shame. "Something no man can escape."

"Just… if you want to be a pervert, you can perv on me and I'll be alright with it…" Sayaka whispered shyly.

Tom sent a slightly surprised look before chuckling. "I'll keep that in mind," he told her. "It's rather shocking to hear that from you."

"W-Well, I'd be more worried if you went to perv on some other girl!" Sayaka hurriedly blurted out, folding her arms and looking away from Tom.

Tom smirked a bit, pulling her a bit closer to him. "They may try to get my attention," he told her. "But they won't keep it like you can."

A puff of steam escaped Sayaka's ears. "J-Just as it should be!" she harrumphed, without looking back at Tom.

Tom laughed cheerfully. "Y'know something… I'm really looking forward to getting out of here," he told her honestly. "Because then I can do this in real life," when she turned to look at him in confusion he suddenly dipped her down and kissed her.

"Mmmph?" a very confused, muffled mumble was all that the silverette could get out. There were some elements of shock and surprise mixed in as well.

Tom pulled her back up to her feet, holding her steady as he released her lips. "Even if it makes your father want to murder me," he continued. "I'd consider it a worthwhile price."

Sayaka began spluttering unintelligibly as puffs of steam blasted out from her ears at random intervals.

"Phewwwwittt!"

Tom blinked at the sound of the high pitched whistle coming from next to him, turning to the source he spotted Agil standing there with a wide grin splitting his face. "See something you like, Agil?" he questioned.

"To be young and in love…" he snickered. "Kirito and Asuna got back a while ago looking a little suspicious too, by the way…"

Tom rolled his eyes as Sayaka stiffened in embarrassment. "Yeah, well we also did some hunting for meat," he informed. "Since not a single shop in town sells anything meat related."

"You just haven't been looking in the right places," Agil rolled his eyes. "Did it ever occur to you to ask Argo about that?"

Tom shrugged. "Gave us a chance to work with our new bows," he answered. "But it does annoy me that we never found the shops after searching for an hour."

"You two were walking in circles around the same general area," Agil muttered. "I was checking the map and just happened to notice you two walking along the same street over and over."

"We were wandering," Tom defended. "Although we were trying to wander in the direction of the hotel."

"Lost," Sayaka muttered.

"Wandering," Tom countered, but cut off any further argument. "Asuna and Pretty Boy are back now right? Well, Saya here wants Asuna to cook something up with the meat we gathered."

"I suppose we can borrow the inn's kitchen," Agil scratched his head. "I'm actually pretty hungry myself as well - closing deals in the morning took a toll on my stomach."

"Oh?" Tom raised a curious eyebrow. "Score anything good?"

"Just a few bulk contracts for cheap potions and stuff that every player is going to need to use," he grinned. "Actually just came back from meeting with a spear-wielding alchemist - she looked Western alright. Alchemy's really starting to get popular, huh?"

Tom blinked. "Tall, thin, blond?" he asked curiously.

"You know her?" Agil blinked. "Well, that makes things easier."

"Yeah, we help her out with some level grinding while we were hunting," Tom explained. "Not all that bad with the spear, but something tells me she'd be better in a support role."

"Mugi."

"Did something happen to Sayaka?" Agil turned to look at the silverette curiously. "She seems a little grumpy."

"Nah, she's just jealous," Tom said, a teasing grin on his face. "Afraid that I'd leave her."

"Mugi…" Sayaka puffed out her cheeks.

Tom chuckled as he rubbed her head affectionately. "Let's get back to the hotel," he said with a smile. "My virtual stomach is demanding attention."

Agil pointed at the building they were standing in front of.

Tom glowered at the dark skinned man. "Y'know… you don't have to speak to be a smartass…"

"I wasn't speaking," Agil said with a straight face. "Just pointing."

"Let's… just get going," Tom growled with an eye twitch. "Too hungry to care."

* * *

 **A few hours later**

* * *

"As much as I hate to admit it, that was better than what I could have made," Tom groused with a scowl at the smug looking Asuna. "Not sure how I feel about that."

"Asuna-nee is the best cook ever!" Sayaka cheered, leaning backwards in her chair and rubbing her virtually filled stomach.

"I could have sworn… that was Soy Sauce," Kirito mumbled to himself as he looked down at his empty plate.

"I've… actually been trying to figure out how to make soy sauce, but I haven't had much luck with the ingredients that I can find on these few floors…" Asuna blushed. "That was the closest to it I've ever gotten…"

"Pretty damn close," Agil informed. "I could sell it for a _lot_ of money."

"Don't," Kirito stared intently at the dark-skinned man. "It means we won't get to eat any of it."

Tom sniggered in the background. "Soy sauce mean that much to you?" he questioned. "Or is it because your girlfriend made it?"

"I-I-It's not like that! We're n-n-n-not like that!" Asuna hurriedly protested, looking away from Kirito.

Kirito just kept quiet and looked away from her as well, a blush decorating his own face.

"Methinks thou doth protest too much," Tom said teasingly.

"Mou! There's nothing between us!" Asuna grumbled, folding her arms insistently. Her growing blush seemed to be indicating otherwise.

"Definitely protestin' too much," Agil agreed, a wide grin splitting his face.

"Asuna-nee likes Kirito-nii!" Sayaka joined in the teasing happily.

The trio laughed as the two flushed horribly in response to the teasing. "Wha… what about you and Sayaka!" Kirito hurriedly tried to deflect the teasing.

"We are a _confirmed_ item," Tom countered with a grin.

"And it's not like we're trying to hide it right, Tom-kun?" Sayaka giggled, hopping over to Tom's side and climbing onto his lap.

Tom chuckled as he kissed her on the cheek as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Nope, not at all," he confirmed, shooting the pair a grin.

Kirito closed his mouth, folded his arms and looked away.

"So… I have a question for you guys," Tom announced as he leaned his chair back onto its back legs as he reclined, keeping Sayaka steady in his lap as he did so. "What do you think about forming a [Guild]?"

Agil raised his eyebrow in response. "A [Guild]?" he asked. "Well… having a Guild Mark for a Front Line group might help my trading business."

"Let's just make one!" Sayaka agreed. "I mean… I want to identify myself officially with you guys, and it's probably easier to make a name for ourselves as a [Guild] and not just as a [Party]…"

"But… for you guys to associate yourselves with a [Beater] like me…" Kirito said reluctantly.

"Shouldn't you have learned by now that we don't care about that title of yours, Kirito-kun?" Asuna confronted the [Beater], her hands on her hips.

"W… well…" Kirito stammered out.

"Well, I guess that settles it, Guild Leader," Tom said with a wry grin. "Your Sub-Leader has spoken."

"Wait, what, I'm the Guild Leader?" Kirito gasped, whirling around to look at the other people sitting at the table. All of them were nodding. "Seriously!?"

"I ain't a good leader, second or strategist, maybe, but not a leader," Tom informed with a wave of his hand.

"I'm not good at leading either…" Sayaka sighed, adjusting herself on top of Tom to get a better seat.

"I'm a merchant," Agil stated plainly when Kirito's desperate gaze turned to him. "I make deals, not lead people."

"I guess it's settled then, congratulations, Kirito-kun," Asuna declared empathetically.

"Really…?" Kirito slumped onto the table face first. "I'm a solo player though…"

His own objection went unheard as Sayaka asked, "So what should our guild name be?"

"Dragon Slayers," Tom offered with a shrug.

"Rejected," the outcome of the first proposal was an unanimous rejection.

Tom shrugged, expecting the rejection. "You guys have any ideas?" he asked, looking around the group.

"Blades of Darkness," Kirito said without looking up.

"Rejected…" Another unanimous decision.

"Merchants of Death?" Agil suggested with a hopeful tone.

"We're not all merchants like you!" Sayaka pointed out. "No!"

"I have it!" Asuna declared with a proud smile as she slapped her hand on the table. "We are… the [Union Blades]!"

"That sounds nice!" Sayaka agreed.

"Definitely a good name," Tom agreed with a nod.

"Because we're a group of players not just from Japan only, and we're united in clearing the game!" Asuna explained her reasoning for the name happily. "Not like the other idiots who seem to be happier to point fingers at the [Beta Testers] or the outsiders!"

Agil nodded. "A good representation of how to best clear the game, a unified front," he agreed.

"And I know an Alchemist we can recruit too," Tom added in.

"Mugi." Sayaka's mood instantly soured.

"Oh come on Saya, we're already an item, it's not likely to change any time soon, not while I still breath anyways," Tom assured the teen, kissing her neck.

"What's wrong, Saya-chan?" Asuna asked worriedly, noticing the change in mood.

"The Alchemist we met is a European woman, and Saya here is afraid of me leaving her, which I would never do," Tom explained.

"Have some faith in Tom-san, Saya-chan…" Asuna encouraged her surrogate little sister. "He's not one to break his word."

"Yeah, but…" Sayaka tried to find an argument - any argument to continue, but she deflated in the end. "Alright…"

"Trust in me," Tom whispered into her ear. "I will not break it."

"Doesn't mean I'll be showing her my dere side," Sayaka muttered, but nodded at her boyfriend.

"Sorry, I think the translation software glitched there," Tom muttered. "Dere?"

Sayaka closed her mouth and cupped it with her hand.

Kirito let out a small cough. "There's no real translation for 'dere' into English, Tom-san… and it refers to her more bashful side."

"Ah," Tom said in response, glancing at a pouting Sayaka for a moment. "So, has the quest that unlocks the Guilds been completed yet?"

"We haven't completed it yet," Kirito scratched his head. "We'll need to reform our original big party first - the quest will draw all of us into the same guild upon completion of the quest."

Tom nodded his understanding. "Any ideas on what kind of Quest it is?" he asked. "Is it a simple fetch quest or combat based?"

Asuna took over for this part. "It's a combat based quest, where we need to exterminate a large amount of monsters threatening Ulla Alari. Thing is, the numbers are in the hundreds range so we really need as many people as we can get. Argo's not joining us so we have one extra slot…"

"Well, there is the Alchemist me and Saya met," Tom pointed out. "She's a decent Spear-User."

"She's a little low-levelled…" Sayaka pointed out.

"Levels aren't an issue - we just need as many people as possible helping to clear out the monsters we need to kill. They aren't too high-levelled," Asuna explained. "The mobs we need to kill are mostly basic ones on this floor."

"Well, that's something at least…" Tom said with a sigh. "What's the lay of the land around the quest area like?"

Asuna let out a small groan. "The whole floor. Forests, hills, plains, forests on hills, forests on plains…"

Tom blinked at he processed that statement. "The _whole_ floor?" he asked for confirmation. "Do we go out and chase them down or do they come to us at least?"

"The former," Kirito replied, a slightly annoyed look on his face at the thought of all the ground they needed to cover. "Kayaba Akihiko isn't making this easy for us."

"*Bleep*," Tom cursed as he palmed his face. "So… that's a no for holing up somewhere and having a bunch of traps set up… anyone got any ideas? Other than firebombing the forest?"

"Just go out and hunt down hundreds of mobs?" Asuna offered weakly.

Tom gave the chestnut colored haired girl a deadpanned look. "Asuna… that would take forever." he told her. "And brute force methods never end well, believe me."

"That… might not take as long as you think," Kirito steepled his hands in an almost perfect Gendo Ikari pose, minus the glasses. "The mobs are spread out across the whole floor, but the weaker ones we've already outleveled and can deal with solo. We'll split up, deal with the weak ones individually in all the spawn areas we can find on the floor. We'll only need to group up for the tougher ones, but we don't need to farm those as much."

Tom hummed in thought. "Well, I suppose that's the best idea," he said reluctantly. "If only there was a way to draw them into a specific place."

"Like the Little Nepents on the 1st floor with the fruits?" Kirito muttered thoughtfully. "Not on this floor, not with these mobs."

Tom let out another censored curse. "There _has_ to be a go around," he muttered, more to himself than the others. "There always is, especially for a game so heavily modeled after D&D…"

"600 col."

Tom blinked as he looked over his shoulder at the grinning rat. "Argo?" he questioned. "When did you get here?"

"I have my ways… nishishishi~" she snickered, holding out her hand.

Tom shrugged. "So, you really know a go around, do you?" he eyed her carefully for a moment before opening his trade menu and giving her the requested amount. "So, what's this go around you know of."

"Well, it's rather simple," Argo explained, a wide grin on her face. "All you need to do is complete the quest [Into the Deep], which is the intro quest for the Drow Elves so that you can gain access to the tunnels, which hold spawning points for all the monsters you need for the quest in one neat and tidy location,"

"Making it so we don't have to go all over the map to fight them!" Asuna concluded with wide eyes. "And allowing us to stick together as a team."

"That helps a lot!" Agil grinned. "Have you told anyone else about this before?"

"Nope, you're my very best customers so you get a special service for this," Argo chuckled. "The tunnels will be free of all other players trying to form guilds for the next 3 days until I sell this information again."

The group grinned at her. "We'll head out and do it tomorrow then, does that sound alright with you guys?" Kirito asked, getting a round of nods from everyone. "Can you message your Alchemist friend and have her meet us at the main gate tomorrow morning?"

Tom nodded in agreement, already writing out the message. "Shouldn't be too much of an issue," he replied as he sent it. "It'll be good to have someone making our health pots instead of needing to buy them all the time."

Sayaka's eye twitched once, but she suppressed the urge to complain.

Tom saw her eye twitch and proceeded to hug her tightly as he kissed her cheek. "Relax," he whispered to her. "Want to head back to our room for the night?"

Sayaka focused her vision on the virtual clock in the corner of her peripheral vision. It was reading just a little after 4 o'clock. "It's too early, Tom-kun…" she pointed out. "We kind of had a late lunch after all…"

"Well, I wanted to talk just between the two of us for a bit," he explained softly to her. "To help reassure you."

"I'm alright… I just need time to understand," Sayaka shook her head, sagging slightly. "I'm still a kid after all, I… don't quite understand a lot of things, especially social contact."

Tom hummed. "And it's especially not easy across cultural lines," he agreed. "Just know this, alright, I won't leave you, okay?"

The silverette looked up at Tom with an unreadable expression before her lips curved upwards and she slowly nodded.

Tom smiled back at her before leaning in and softly captured her lips in a chaste kiss.

Sayaka felt a little warm inside as they broke the kiss and began staring into each other's eyes. "That wasn't fair, I can't stay mad at you after something like that…" she murmured with a blush.

"Mmm… just to be fair… it would work the same in reverse," Tom countered. "You know I care about you, right?"

Sayaka nodded.

"Man, you two are so sweet it almost makes my teeth rot," Argo stated as she watched the pair. "It's… almost fascinating in a way too…"

Sayaka picked up a fork and threw it at Argo. It flew right past her cheek, barely even grazing her hair before bouncing off the wall.

 **Immortal Object**

"Nishishishi," Argo chuckled in response. "Am I getting under your skin, Sacchi?"

"I changed my mind, Tom-kun. I think I need to rest for a bit," Sayaka ignored the rat as she spoke to Tom in a mock-regal tone.

Tom chuckled as he stood up, being sure to keep her in his arms as he did so. "If that is what my lady wishes, then how can this knight deny her," he replied in his own mock-noble tone.

"Just as it should be!" Sayaka grinned. "To my quarters!"

"As my lady commands," Tom managed to get out between his chuckles as he left the room, heading for his and Sayaka's shared quarters.

"20 col says Ryu get's the first [Knight] based title," Agil said after a few moments.

"Not buying against these odds," Kirito shook his head.

Asuna let out a slightly annoyed harrumph. "Men and their gambling."

"What?" Agil protested. "You have to admit, his attitude towards Sayaka is almost exactly that of a knight to his sworn lady, although… he doesn't exactly hold to things like honor… as proven by the grenade to the face of the second floor boss."

* * *

 **Meanwhile with Jordan's group**

* * *

"Holy shit that's a lot of steel!" Jordan said as he saw a group of ingots at the table while Dennis grinned.

"This is why I love auction houses. You can sometimes find some idiot underselling an item's worth. I only had to pay 7,000 col for it! There's more than enough here to update all our armors and weapons for this floor."

"I had the same luck with the alchemy shop. Turns out my barter skill was high enough to get these at 10%. I'll need to talk to Ryu about how to carefully make the grenades - don't want to lose my virtual fingers after all!" Rossa exclaimed.

"Man, this is awesome! Now we just need to find the guild quest and we can get things started," Jordan grinned.

"I'm going to let you guys do the recruiting then. I'm not much of a people person after all. By the way, have you decided the name for the guild, Jor? Please don't try to be edgy and call ourselves the Legion of Shadow Darkness or some stupid bullshit," Dennis said cynically.

"Aincrad Ranger's Guild," Jordan retorted with a deadpan. "What do you take me for, Dennis? I keep my Guild name simple… though Morningstar is a good name as well… anyone?"

"We'll worry about that later," Ron sighed, "So what's on the schedule now?"

"Well, if we're gonna have our own Guild, we need to fulfill the quest," Jordan explained, "It's a super-easy quest, mostly just material gathering and such. Hopefully by the time we complete it, we'll actually have a good enough name - I still stand besides my two options unless any of you have objections."

"I'm good, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try to improve our survivability," Dennis said as he grabbed the ingots and went to the forge in the courtyard.

"No rest for the wicked huh? Guess I'll go upstairs and work on our potion supply." Rossa said as he left the room leaving Ron, Jordan and Lux.

"I'm going to begin trying to make better grenades," the large Canadian opened the door and left the building.

"Guess I'll go train with Lux then. Now where is she?" Jordan said as he looked around the room before looking at the window.

In the front there was a cafe with Lux in a table getting ready to eat some flan. Jordan shook his head.

"Of course she's stuffing her face in sweets again. Well, this would be a good chance to practice my accuracy with the bow," Jordan muttered to himself as he got out of the inn with his bow ready.

He aimed at the flan and drew the string all the way back before letting the arrow fly. The shot was true as it hit the desert and exploding in several digital polygons before disappearing. Lux's face was in complete shock before small tears formed.

"M-my flan…" she whined pathetically before looking at the direction where the arrow came from. She became enraged as she saw Jordan grinning with his bow still out.

"Jooooooordaan!" Lux yelled angrily as she pulled out her rapier and shot out of the inn towards him before he started running.

"So worth it!" Jordan shouted as he ran through the streets with Lux in tow, gathering many onlookers at the two.

* * *

 **Outside of town - within the forest**

* * *

"GREAT. Game won't let me take the REAL option," Upon discovering that his first option - using matchlock-type fuses - was out of the question, Ron decided to go into the forest and start looking for materials. With experience with maple tree tapping, he decided to go looking for the second most fire-inclined thing he could think of: tree sap. So, with a relatively good bore and a spout, he decided, rather amusingly, to go tree-hunting.

"And this is why I don't like screwing around with something that works. 'make a fuse', I say. 'Oh, you can't do it the way they did in real life', says the game. I say 'Well, *bleep* you too!' And for the love of God, GET RID OF THE CENSORSHIP! There's blood and death in this game, might as well have foul language while we're at it!" He got on his knees and began to bore a hole through the bark; just enough to get at the sap so he could check if it was suitable as a substitute for his preferred material. That being human urine. His reasons were not as gross as they seemed: it was how the Europeans made matchlock fuses and it was the way the Chinese did the same for their fireworks.

Unfortunately, Cardinal didn't like that. So Ron was forced to use alternative methods, much to his loathing. Hence, tree tapping.

The sap from the first tree he tapped, a oakish-looking thing with poplar-like leaves, wasn't as flammable as he wanted. He DID discover that it made a good neutralizing agent, though: it kept the other explosive substances in the grenade from exploding until he wanted them to explode.

Something that looked like a yew tree with oak leaves wasn't promising at all: the sap just turned to gel when burned. He kept a jar of it, though: Ryu's potion people might like it.

Now he was trying something called an elthoria tree. Sort of a hybrid between a palm, a conifer and a ginkgo tree that had red leaves, it was the third kind of tree he'd tap. And as soon as he got past the bark, the runny substance came out, and he quickly put the spout into the tree before setting up a bucket and a set of strings he'd use for fuses.

"Do you know the bomberman, the bomberman, the bomberman. Do you know the bomberman, he lives on bomber lane! Do you know the bomberman, the bomberman, the bomberman. Do you know the bomberman, he just blew up your bane!" At least the only things that could hear him were the trees, and torturing them with his horrible singing voice wasn't possible.

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

* * *

Kayaba Akihiko smiled as he watched the inhabitants of his world scurry around from his vantage point outside of the castle, standing atop of a crystal clear glass floor, all around him holographic panels showing him assorted information, such as current status on the next set of upgrades and reports from the assorted A.I. offsprings from the main [Cardinal] System.

"I suppose it will soon be time for the king to step down and mingle among the masses," he mused to himself. "It shall be interesting to see how they climb through the levels, especially when that one player… what was it… ah yes 'old Schooled' [Asterius], honestly, I'm quite surprised there's a Dungeons and Dragons player online."

" _Of course there are going to be Dungeons and Dragons players online, Kayaba… You dragged half the world into this, you know."_

Kayaba looked over to a new window that opened, showing a petite young woman with short black hair and dark grey eyes, Rinko Kojiro, his real life fiance who was currently taking care of his body. "I suppose you are correct, but… to ensure the greatest results, I needed a wide pool of candidates, and limiting it to just one country would not give me that."

Rinko let out a sigh and continued in a worried tone, _"It also means the whole world is going to be after you, not just Japan now…"_

"So long as you tell them that mine is synced to all of the players, then we should be just fine," Kayaba assured. "Besides, they should not find this place for at least another year."

" _What are you going to do then, once the game is cleared?"_ Rinko frowned. _"You'll be branded as a murderer, considering how many have already died because of Sword Art Online…"_

"I have a plan in place," Kayaba assured her. "Don't worry, everything is going according to the plan."

" _And you're never going to tell me what's going on in your head, huh…"_ Rinko groaned.

Kayaba grinned in response. "Now now, a good playwright never spoils the final act so early," he teased. "But… I will be joining them soon, were you able to find what I wanted?"

" _Yes, I did. What are you going to do with it?"_

"Mm, I think I will be making a slight change to my plans," he declared. "There is a group that caught my eye, and I want to see how far they can go myself."

Rinko was silent for a while. _"You're going into the game yourself,"_ she stated.

Kayaba nodded. "I always did want to play the role of the [Hero] after all," he declared proudly.

" _Two-faced Hero,"_ Rinko immediately called him out on it. _"You put them into that situation in the first place."_

"Fair enough," Kayaba acceded with a slight chuckle. "Besides, it's getting rather boring just watching people play the game…"

" _If you get unmasked, there'll be a lynch mob out after you,"_ Rinko pointed out.

"Actually, I would be overjoyed if there was someone skilled enough to unmask me," Kayaba said. "And I would gladly welcome the mob, at the gates of the [Ruby Castle] that is."

" _You're incorrigible, senpai,"_ Rinko muttered.

Kayaba let out a loud laugh in response. "I suppose I am a bit of a… troll? is it?" he agreed.

The video feed went static.

"Well, I suppose that answers that," Kayaba said to himself with a small grin. "Now, I suppose I should get things ready. After all, the actors need their prompts, don't they?"

* * *

 **END CHAPTER!**

* * *

Omake!

'Explosive Candy'

It is known that candy is generally considered awesome. It is sweet and better tasting than anything that is healthy.

But when something decides to be a total dick about something, it ends badly.

That something in this case, happened to be the bored AI overseeing a certain Video Game of DEATH!

Also known as Sword Art Online.

Patent Pending.

Anyways, the AI was also known as the [Cardinal System] and it was bored.

Why you may ask, well there's only so much entertainment to be found with simply watching people try to fight for their lives before it became repetitive, so… it decided to _make_ some entertainment.

And what better way than shock and fear tactics.

As such, it laid a trap. A trap in the form of the famed candy known as... Reese's Pieces. The black, yellow and orange candy-coated blobs of peanut butter were well known and loved around the world.

It also did not EXIST in the game, so anyone wanting peanut butter was going to want one or more, mostly more, candies. Enter our first victim.

Kibaou was having a fairly decent day over all, truth be told, after all, who didn't get a secret thrill of pleasure whenever they smashed in a Legolas look alike's face?

Well, he certainly did as he made his way back towards town, pausing just outside the gate when he caught sight of a small, innocent looking orange piece of candy.

"Ooh! Candy!" He picked up the innocent looking little circle of goodness, made sure there wasn't any dirt on it before he tossed it into his mouth.

Nearby were two men. One was working on improving a set of weapons created by the other. Both also had the same nationality, being Canadians. The only difference was one was in a building, the other was not.

And when there was a loud BANG!, both men rushed to the scene.

"What the hell happened here?" Tom asked as he tried to get through the gathered crowd, before coming up to a smoking crater where a blackened with ash and soot Kibaou lay coughing. "Kibaou?"

"Candy...Boom..." He fainted, looking like a passed out drunk as Ron arrived, looking rather annoyed. "I heard something go boom. For a second, I thought it was one of my grenades. What happened?"

"I saw the entire thing, he picked up a random piece of candy off the ground and it exploded as soon as he ate it!" one of the onlookers shouted out.

"Exploding… _candy?_ " Tom asked incredulously, before pausing in thought. "Kinda disappointed _I_ didn't think about it first actually…"

"The *Bleep*? I thought Cardinal was an AI, not some jackass with a shitty sense of humor!" He paused before looking skyward. "If you're going to waste time with exploding candy, AT LEAST LET THOSE OF US THAT ACTUALLY USE FOUL LANGUAGE USE IT WITHOUT CENSOR!"

"I think it's holding off on it _now_ because it pisses you off so much Ron," Tom commented. "Hey, cactus head, you alive over there?"

Kibaou groaned in response. "He'll live. At least it didn't blow his jaw off, so the idiot should count himself lucky!" Ron looked at the crowd. "Ok, I think I don't need to say this, but if you see any candy just laying about...give it to me and I'll get rid of it. I have my ways with...explosives."

"In other words, WMDs to be thrown at the Floor Bosses," Tom summed up.

Ron shrugged. "At least I'm actually workin' on the making things go BOOM end of things."

Tom shrugged. "Whatever, I'm going to go finish working on the sword," he commented, heading back into the town.

With that the crowd began to disperse, only the smallest of whimpers echoing out from the crater pointing out the fact that Kibaou was still inside of it.

* * *

 **DKR: Well, that's it for this chapter, hope you guys decide to review and leave your thoughts, or maybe even a TVtropes Recommendation? *Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge***

 **Ron the True Fan: And try not to touch the exploding candy. There's a freaking warning label for a reason. (Holds up sign: WARNING: May cause sugar rushes, loss of life, loss of limb and cavities)**

 **117Jorn: Meh, exploding candy's nothing… you've obviously never seen what happens when someone drinks Coke and eats a Menthols. THAT is a recipe for Chaos.**

 **AstralXYZ: I** _ **still**_ **don't get the exploding candy thing. Anyway, reviews would be nice - they're what keeps us writing knowing there are people out there reading this. =)**

 **DKR: Welp, see y'all next chap!**


	7. Third Floor: Starting the Guilds

Disclaimer: Buy the official release, which this is not.

* * *

 **Ulla Alari North Gate**

* * *

"So Branwen-san, where are you from?" Asuna asked.

"Ah, Berlin, in Germany," Branwen answered, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well, outside of Berlin anyways."

Sayaka was trying her absolute best not to start glaring at Branwen again, although she DID have a bit of a pout on.

"Yeah, I heard Germany's countryside is pretty nice," Tom commented, giving Sayaka a pat on the head.

"Yeah, I guess," Branwen chuckled awkwardly. "I mean, I'm not really a big fan of the countryside myself, y'know, I like the city and its accessibility. I was kinda reliant on getting a driver until I got my license."

"I can't drive until I turn 18," Sayaka muttered.

Tom chuckled. "To be honest, I never got mine until I was 24," he admitted. "I either walked, biked or bused wherever I needed to go."

"Living in Tokyo has one advantage though - we have really convenient public transportation," Sayaka added after a thought, before shivering slightly. "Except when you run into a pervert on the train during rush hour…"

Tom patted her head assuringly. "Well, remember those grappling moves I taught you," he told her.

Sayaka gave Tom an odd look. "There's no room on the train during rush hour to throw perverts, and putting them in an armbar would… probably make them happier," her eyes flicked downwards to make sure he got what she meant.

Tom hummed with a nod. "I can see the problem," he agreed. "And any moves I know all need some kind of space… give me some time, I'm sure I can create some painful maneuvers."

"Think of something that'll let me break their fingers," Sayaka smiled. "That's the best kind of retribution."

Tom snorted with a grin. "I'm sure I can find some elves to… experiment on," he let a vicious grin spread across his face as he spoke.

"Don't be too mean on them," Sayaka rolled her eyes.

"It's their fault for being so pretty," Tom huffed, sending a small glare to Kirito. "I never can trust pretty boys to try and steal _my_ girl from me, even if they already have one."

"Oy! I heard that!" Kirito fired back good-naturedly.

"You were meant to!" Tom called back.

Branwen chuckled weakly in response. "I see… so you're a martial art practitioner then, Ryu?" she asked curiously. "Like MMA or something."

Tom shook his head. "Nah, it's just a minor hobby of mine, mostly focusing around grapples," he explained. "My buddy said I had a knack for it, so I went with it."

"Sayaka has a knack for it too," Agil laughed. "You should see her when she's with a certain benefactor of ours who always asks for it."

"Soaks up everything I teach her like a sponge," Tom praised patting said girl on the head affectionately. "Just wish I could teach her some of my special series."

"Munyaaa~" Sayaka let out a happy moan.

"Your special series?" Branwen questioned incredulously.

Tom shrugged. "Well, a combination of grappling techniques," he explained, rolling his shoulders. "And… not nice when used on people, unfortunately, Saya doesn't quite have the build for it."

"And I also think that some people are happy to get grappled by me," Sayaka blushed, folding her arms under her ample bust.

Tom chuckled as Branwen sent an annoyed glare towards Sayaka's… assets before looking down at her own flatter chest with an angry grumble.

"Like I said, I think I might be able to think up something that will work," Tom assured her, continuing to rub her head. "Worse comes to worse, I'll show you how to break fingers."

"Aren't you just doing her [Little Demon] title justice at this point?" Agil pointed out.

Sayaka stuck her tongue out at the dark-skinned man.

"Hey, in for a penny, in for a pound," Tom returned. "Besides, it's fun to see her use what I teach her against a certain Rat."

"Don't be too mean on her," Asuna rolled her eyes at the wanton violence being described before her eyes, although the corners of her mouth were upturned ever so slightly.

"Considering how much money she makes off us?" Kirito countered with a small smirk.

"She _does_ give us some generous discounts," Asuna replied. "She's undercutting all the other information brokers for us, but there's no one else in the business better than her."

"Not to mention she always tries to grope Saya," Tom pitched in. "Kinda deserves it then."

"Mugyuu," Sayaka grumbled, wrapping her hands around her fleshy globes and squeezing a few times. "Are they really that nice to grope…?"

Tom tripped over absolutely nothing, causing his face to impact with the ground. "Ow," was the muffled result.

"You shouldn't say things like that, Saya-chan!" an affronted-looking Asuna hissed.

"That's the first time I ever saw someone trip on nothing," Agil commented. "Pretty funny actually."

"You're reacting to Tom-san and not Sayaka-san?" Kirito muttered, looking away from Sayaka with a blush.

"Kid, live as long as I have, and what she said won't even rate in the top ten of weird stuff," Agil explained. "Especially once you past age of majority, ie, legal drinking age."

"Tom-kun, are they really that nice to feel?" an oblivious Sayaka repeated her question.

"Saya… I… I give up," Tom groaned out as he pushed himself to his feet, glaring at the two other Japanese in the group. "I blame your educational system for this."

Asuna smacked her forehead in exasperation.

"I think it's a problem with Sayaka being oblivious… not our education system…" Kirito offered his opinion, refusing to face the silverette.

"Mugi…"

"Saya," Tom said, addressing the youngest member of the group. "Feeling up… breasts… is something only to be done in private, otherwise it gives off the vibes of the guys on the train."

"I know that," Sayaka blushed. "But I'm just wondering why men seem to like touching them so much?"

"Because, they are attached to women," Tom informed reluctantly. "And some men like touching women."

"That doesn't exactly explain it very well…" Sayaka sagged, "But… I think I get what you mean."

"Anyways, so, where's the Quest Giver for the quest we need?" Tom asked, looking over to Kirito.

"There's a Guild Hall in this city, it's on the minimap," Kirito explained, pulling up his menu and expanding the map to show to the group.

Tom blinked as he studied the map before nodding. "Alright, that should be simple enough, and for getting into the caves? What about that quest?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Know anything about it?"

"Argo gave us all the info we needed - the quest giver for that one is located in a rather shady back alley of the city," Asuna sighed. "We'll need to fight off some Light Elves picking on a Dark Elf."

"Oh, so I get to punch pretty boys in the face?" Tom immediately perked at the thought. "Sounds like fun! Should we split up, you guys go and get the Guild Quest and we take care of the entry quest?"

"They're both party quests, only the leader of the party can accept them," Kirito pointed out.

"Ah, alright then, which one first then?" Tom asked.

"Guild quest first," the de facto leader of their group looked back towards the town.

"Lead on almighty leader," Tom said, a smirk forming on his face as Kirito glared at him.

"So, Ryu, umm, if you don't mind me asking," Branwen started, a bit hesitant about speaking up. "But… what exactly will my role be?"

Tom hummed in response. "Alchemist mostly, in combat, mid-range support with the spear I suppose," he answered. "How good are you with bows?"

Branwen flinched a little. "Not… good," she replied. "Even with crossbows, I end up hurting myself more than the target."

"Maybe I should try out crossbows myself sometime…" Sayaka murmured to herself. "A shortbow just seems to… lack power for me."

"They're actually mostly used in mounted combat and mid range combat," Kirito spoke up. "Since they are easier on the draw then Longbows and quicker to fire as well, but lose penetration power and range as a result."

"Yeah… I think I'll pick up a crossbow from the equipment shop later," Sayaka nodded. "See if I can find a smaller one that can make a good offhand weapon."

"Those were pretty rare in the old day," Tom commented. "Pretty hard to make them as well, so they may not come out until later floors, or maybe a rare drop."

"Then I'll just use a normal one for a while," the silverette smiled, grabbing her tail to stop it from wagging.

Tom chuckled. "That tail of yours is pretty honest, isn't it?" he asked teasingly.

Sayaka glared at the tail and wrapped it around her leg again. "I… kind of still want you to touch it again sometime," she confessed quietly.

Tom closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath before releasing it. "How about we talk about that tonight," he suggested slowly. "And not in public."

"I mean… it kind of makes me feel good inside…" she squirmed under his gaze.

Tom sighed as he patted her head comfortingly. "Alright, when we get back tonight then," he relented. "That alright with you?"

"Yeah…" she nodded, her tail unwinding itself from around her leg to wag excitedly again.

Tom noticed the movement and snickered in response, completely oblivious to the semi-jealous look Branwen was sending in their direction.

"I wonder if I'm ever going to get used to real life without a tail after we clear the game…" Sayaka muttered, catching Tom's tail-watching.

"Yeah, I suppose that would take some getting used to," Tom mused, a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm… that actually brings up a thought, some people might even get so used to the additions, that when they return they may get surgery done to 'regain' said additions."

"I don't want this tail back," Sayaka grumbled, folding her arms.

Tom snorted. "Let's see what you say when we get out of here," he teased her. "Anyways, is this the Guild Hall, Kirito?"

They were looking up at a large stone building that bore some passing resemblance to Greek architecture, with large pillars holding up a triangular roof. The only things that broke the Greek resemblance were the vines seemingly entangled around the pillars in a surprisingly artful design. It looked slightly abandoned though.

"Yeah, it is," Kirito confirmed, as he walked up the stairs into the main foyer. Ahead of the group, inside the dilapidated-looking reception area, was a desk at which sat an important-looking old man with a quest icon hovering over his head.

The group approached the Quest Giver who turned to look at the party. "Are you adventurous brave enough to fight?" he asked hopefully. "Please, we need you to protect this village."

"Please don't let there be a really long dialogue or something before we start the quest," Sayaka whispered to Tom.

Tom shrugged as Kirito responded with an affirmative to the man's request.

"Thank you," the old man said gratefully. "There are three types of monsters that threaten the livelihood of this village. [Carnivorous Trent's], [Berserk Nymphs], and the [Venomous Nagas], eliminate enough of them, and they should stay away from the village, if you do this, and I will ensure your group is remembered for ages to come."

"That's new," Kirito muttered under his breath.

"The 'remembered for ages' part?" Agil questioned curiously.

"Yeah, then again, we didn't exactly have enough guilds formed during the beta test to warrant a reward," Kirito nodded.

"Fair enough," Agil agreed. "Shall we do the other quest now?"

"Yeah, let's go whack some elves!" Sayaka cheered.

Tom snorted. "Right then, so, where's this bullied Elf, I want to punch something pretty."

"He's in the northeastern part of Ulla Alari, in the less affluent area of the city," Kirito brought up his minimap to check the location Argo had given them. "He changes locations every time the quest is taken, but Argo's already confirmed he's there at least for today."

"Hm, well, let's get there before someone else claims the quest," Agil announced. "Don't want to try and scour the city for him."

"He's not too far from here, luckily. It won't take long," Kirito reassured, then decided to take a jab at the two people in the group with no sense of direction, "So long as neither Tom-san or Sayaka-san are leading us there…"

"Ow, that hurts me pretty boy," Tom stated exaggeratedly, clasping at his chest as if struck. "Right here man, right here."

"Mugi," Sayaka grumbled.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - with the Rangers**

* * *

"…I blame you for this, Lux…"

"…*flick*"

"Stop that!"

"But they're _so cute_ …"

Dennis chuckled at Jordan's expense, as Jordan groaned as he put a hood over his head, to cover the two long elf-like ears now replacing his old ears. " _why_ did you have to compare me to an Elf, Lux?" he hissed. "The Cardinal System issues these things out like it's on a hair trigger!"

"But the stats are so good!" Rossa commented, "You get all of those elven traits like improved hearing, sight, accuracy with ranged weapons and swords, as well as enhanced tracking skills, trap making… that's right up your alley!"

"But I didn't want [Bleep]ing Elf Ears!" Jordan groaned, glancing around making sure no one was listening. "I look like Jak from Jak and Daxter now… geez I hope Ryu doesn't see me like this till I can get a new one… "

A light 'ping' notified him to an incoming message. It was from Ron, who had broken off a while back for a 'project'.

' _If none of you are busy, I may have something you like waiting for you. So, please, move fast.'_

"Ron says he's got something we'll like waiting for us," He informed, "Come on, let's find out what he wants. Then we go out to our next quest - I heard we've got a hunting quest for Drow Elves here, should be some good easy XP."

BOOM!

BOOM!

"HA! I win! History beats fantasy any day!" It had taken a LONG time to perfect the design of the clay shells needed for his grenades, but it was worth it as he lit another grenade and threw it into the treeline.

"Ron!" A voice called out, before Ron glanced behind him as he saw the others from his guild approach. "The _hell_ is going on here? What's with all the explosions?"

"Oh, just me making Ryu's makeshift Molotov look about 5,000 years out of date," Ron said, grinning. "Fear the wisdom of the ancients, Jorno boy. It makes fools out of people that think they're the best for making something invented thousands of years ago by someone else."

"You…" Jordan said, before there was another explosion in the treeline. "You… made… hand grenades?"

"What do you THINK I was doing, making rock candy?" Ron asked as he walked to a large number of oval-shaped clay vessels roughly the size of his fist. They had square-shaped lifts on them, making them almost look like a modern grenade, sans the rope fuse on top. "I'd've used urine for the fuses, but the game vetoed me on that. Seems that Cardinal doesn't like realism to that degree."

"Okay…" Jordan said, wrapping his head around the fact they have _explosive_ now.

Ron picked up a grenade, handing the charge to him. "Ten second fuse, so time your throws. And be aware of the paint." He said.

"...the paint?" Rossa asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Green, normal explosive, red, incendiary, blue's a flash, yellow is shrapnel." Ron explained. "And don't touch the black one. EVER."

"What?" Jordan said, looking at the black grenade, "Is it like the *Bleep*ing holy hand grenade from Monty Python?"

"Might as well be. It's a poison grenade. Probably about the most dangerous thing in the game right now, a party walked through the cloud while it was active and they lost half their health with the damage."

"...Ron, you are officially our own Anti-SOB machine." Jordan announced as he inspected the grenades. "I shudder at the monsters you could build if they add actual firearms into the game… as unlikely as that might be."

"On that note, don't touch them unless you ask me, first." He said, "The last thing I need is someone taking all my grenades. I sent Ryu a PM: I think he's ignoring me, so I don't think he'll be coming over any time soon. Grab two of each, and don't touch the black one. The idiots were two levels higher then we are and they lost half their health because of the grenades. Would've died if I threw another one in without me noticing they were in there. So imagine if WE get caught in the cloud of death."

"Right - use Black one as sheer last resort, got it." Jordan said taking two of each grenade. "Hopefully these could come handy against the next floor boss."

Ron placed the unholy hand grenade, as all of them began coining it, in his own inventory. "Well, have fun looking for it. I have to remain with my stockpile of DOOM."

Lux raised an eyebrow at the terminology. "'Stockpile of doom'? Really?"

"I have enough materials to make another ten Blacks." Ron said. "Would you want that to get stolen and have some idiot kill himself?"

"Fair point." Lux said, gingerly putting the grenades into her inventory.

"Well, if you done making your doomsday weapon for the day Ron, you want to come with us for some XP grinding?" Jordan asked, "Got some Drow Elves to take out."

"What the hell. I have little better to do, but I want to come back later. I want another couple of black grenades. WMDs are useful in a pinch. Racetrack would know."

"Uh...who?" Rossa asked, sounding confused.

Ron chuckled. " _Battlestar Galactica_." He said, "I won't spoil the show, but nukes are VERY handy at making problems go away in space. That, and there is a man with balls so big there is no way anyone can make anything that can carry them."

"...it's always the Americans..." Lux muttered, shaking her head, "You have the weirdest things..."

"This coming from someone from Japan?" Jordan asked with a raised eyebrow, "The same country that produced Funky Forest the first contact."

Ron hit Lux over the head with his sheathed dagger. "And never make the assumption that everything made in the Americas was made by the US," he scolded. "BSG's _Canadian_ , thank you very much. All Universal did was foot the bill and supply a few actors. Everything and everyone else? Made in Canada."

"Ah, Canadians… masters of Science Fiction..." Jordan said, "Well… with the exception of Gundam Savior… *Bleep*ing thing was an abomination, if they wanted to make a live action Gundam movie, ask for help from the _masters_ of Super Robots."

"Can't be any worse than Strike Witches." Dennis said as he looked over the grenades.

With the [Protector] title his heavy armor was changed to having large bulky shoulder plates and the armor overall became more thick looking and his helmet was changed to a large square shaped kind with only a T-shape visor for his vision along with a color change of silver with yellow outlines.

"Hey, Strike Witches isn't _that_ bad." Jordan said, "Yes it's a bit… over the top with the… lack of pants and all, but I _do_ enjoy the story elements… aliens invading earth during the WWII era, humanity turning towards a magic-like energy force to defend against them… though yeah, a bit less fanservice would've been appreciated."

"Wait I minute I remember you guys turning down an idea Titanic had about nuclear powered WWII planes and thought it was dumb but lolis with planes engines for legs is genius?" Dennis asked.

"Yeah well, Titanic's idea was just flat out implausible due to technological and story issues," Jordan explained, "However, Strike Witches has something that makes it plausible."

"What?" Dennis asked.

"To quote Linkara from Atop the Fourth Wall: 'It's Magic: I don't have to explain it'." He said grinning. "Laws of physics and even technology can go screw themselves when magic gets thrown around. "

A flick was heard as they heard something catch on fire. Ron was holding what looked like a crude lighter...and the black grenade. "Are you two done? If not, I can simply LIGHT this thing and kill all of us. Saves me the trouble of having to LISTEN to you talk about something pointless."

"...you can be a real crazy bastard Ron." Jordan said, rolling his eyes before sighing. "Alright, come on… we've got things to do, a quest to finish, and I ain't getting paid by the hour..."

Ron put out the flame and stashed the grenade. "Let's get this done. Time for a combat test o' my unholy hand grenades."

* * *

 **Ulla Alari**

* * *

"This alley, right?" Tom asked as the group passed said alleyway, peering into it in interest.

"Nope, it's the one further up ahead," Kirito deadpanned from the front of the group, pointing at the alley entrance slightly further ahead of them.

Tom groaned as he shook his head. "I swear I'm not this bad IRL," he muttered. "Man… it must be this VR crap screwing me up."

"All these alleys look the same to me…" Sayaka looked into the same alley for a moment.

"Well, it just may be that this place is designed to get a player lost," Agil suggested as they approached the required alley. "Some games are just mean like that."

"It's useless when you have a minimap…" Kirito pointed out. "Those two are just better at getting lost than others."

"Quiet, pretty boy," Tom growled. "I know where you sleep. "

"Hey, it's the truth," Kirito chuckled, walking into the alley ahead of the group.

"Please, leave me alone!" a young sounding voice called out. "I'm just passing through!"

Visible from their spot inside the alley was a group of light-skinned elves surrounding a young, darker-skinned one. Hovering over the latter's head was an exclamation mark indicating that he was a quest giver.

Tom had a wide grin on his face as he cracked his knuckles. "Oh… my knuckles are quivering, they wish to lay divine justice upon these clueless heathens, and show them the mighty light of the pimp smack," he said, half-jokingly, half-serious.

The Japanese members of the group stared at Tom in confusion.

Tom sighed in depression as Agil chuckled, patting his back assuringly. "Damn cultural difference," he stated as he shook his head. "No matter, we doing this or what?"

"Oh, we most definitely are!" Sayaka was bouncing eagerly on her toes.

With that confirmation Ryu let out a chuckle as he approached the group of Elves and tapped one of the 'Light' Elves' on the shoulder.

"What is-" the NPC began as he turned around only to be greeted by Tom's fist as he threw all of his strength smack dab into the Elf's chin throwing said elf back into a heap. Since they were technically still in a city, they couldn't cause any real damage. All they could do was knock people back.

"Hiyaaah!" Sayaka dashed out in front, reversing her katana edge to use the blunt side to lash out, knocking aside another elf.

"Come on, who wants some?" Ryu questioned as he took up a stance, unintentionally activating the [Bluff] Outside System Skill. "Been feeling a little rusty in hand to hand recently."

"Tch, who are you people? Adventurers?" the remaining Light Elves took up fighting stances.

"I suppose you could say that," Kirito said with a sigh, drawing out his sword as he took a stance. "The question is, do you really want to try and fight us over a single Dark Elf?"

The apparent leader of the elves was silent for a moment before he stood down, relaxing his stance somewhat. "Fine, we're leaving," he snorted, turning around and stepping through his fellows. "Putting just one darkling in his place isn't worth fighting over."

Agil snorted as he watched them leave. "Well that was easy." he muttered as he went over to the Dark Elf lying on the ground. "Hey! You alright there kid?"

"We don't get to beat them up more?" Sayaka whined.

"Doesn't look like it," Ryu said, letting out a depressed sigh. "Ah man, that sucks…"

"Don't get overly violent, boys," Asuna rolled her eyes.

"I didn't even get to do anything…" Kirito muttered in disappointment as he sheathed his sword.

Ryu sighed. "Guess I'll have to practice on the monsters," he commented as he pouted. "Hey, Elfie, you alive there?"

"Ugh… I am alright. Thank you for saving me," the victim of the incident climbed to his feet. "Dark Elves are almost universally hated in this city… I almost regret coming here."

"Do you need help getting to Dark Elf Territory?" Kirito questioned, prompting the quest continuation. "If so, we wouldn't mind escorting you there."

"No… it is quite alright. I was here to warn the people about dens of monsters nearby that are threatening the city… but no one will believe me," the elf shook his head. "Once they have been dealt with, I will leave in peace. I do not wish for conflict with our Light brethren."

"A den of Monsters, huh?" Agil questioned. "Sounds like what we were looking for."

"My own brethren happened across those dens and decided to leave them be because they were too far away from our city," the elf regaled. "I am quite surprised the Light Elves haven't discovered them yet… I fear they have become overconfident in their abilities."

"Well then, I guess that we'll have to take care of this little den then," Ryu said with a wide grin. "A nice big den full of monsters, and me with some grenades."

"You are adventurers, correct? You seem quite strong, perhaps you might be able to deal with this problem. Unfortunately, I have naught to repay you with…" the Dark Elf paused, reaching into its bag. "My funds have long been stolen by the Light Elves… and I am doing this in my own personal capacity after all."

"How about you put in a good word with the other Dark Elves, for us?" Kirito suggested. "That would be more than plenty."

"But… yes, that might work - I can lead you to Golothaer and introduce you to the Council…" the elf paused. "It would garner you some respect with them, and the shops would no longer dare to try and rip you off…"

"I'd say that'd be worth it," Agil agreed with a wide grin at the thought of trading in places others weren't able too. "So, where is this little den of yours?"

"I'll give you the locations of the dungeon entrances," the NPC sent a trade request to Ryu. When he accepted it, some mapping data immediately appeared on the Dark Elf's side. "I would accompany you myself, but I had to surrender my weapons and armour when I entered Ulla Alari and I doubt I'll get them back…"

Ryu nodded. "Alright, we'll meet up with you when we clear those beasties out," Ryu said as he looked over the maps and shared them with the party.

"Wow… they really aren't that far away, are they?" Branwen questioned as she looked over the mapping data.

"Yeah… I'm surprised no one happened across them yet," Kirito muttered, staring at his map. Indeed, the dens were just a few kilometres away from the city. "Well, I guess it's dungeon crawling time…"

"Maybe the dens are quest activated?" Ryu questioned as they made their way towards the City Gate. "Y'know, like you can't find them or see them until you start a certain quest?"

"Point," Kirito nodded, recalling a few dungeons that had been like that during the beta test days. "I've never been in this dungeon before though, even during the beta test. We'll need to be very careful."

"We'll be fine!" Sayaka bounced cheerfully. "Since we've got so many of us!"

"Yeah, this should definitely work out," Ryu agreed as he looked though his inventory. "I've got ten Molotov Grenades, so I'll have to use them sparingly, probably on the [Carnivorous Treant's]."

"Can't you make more before we head out?" Kirito asked worriedly. "Those things will be a lot of trouble otherwise."

Ryu hummed as he looked through. "I need some [Burning Plant Oil] in order to make more," he informed with a grimace. "There is a place you can get some on the way to one of the Dens though…"

"Then we'll drop by there before moving on," Kirito agreed.

"Sounds good to me," Ryu agreed. "Shall we get going? Or does anybody need to stock up on potions or arrows?"

"I want explodey arrows too," Sayaka pouted.

"Don't think they have those out… _yet_ ," Branwen informed with a sigh. " _But_ , I do have assorted poisons that you can coat your arrows in though!"

"Doesn't make them explodey," Sayaka moaned. "I want explodey arrows!"

"Arrow bombs," Kirito corrected absentmindedly.

"Like in Maple!" Sayaka continued eagerly as if she hadn't just been corrected.

"Who the hell plays that these days?" Agil groaned.

"I never did," Ryu admitted with a sigh. "Never liked the 2D side scrolling RPGs, _loved_ Megaman though."

"What's Maple?" a clueless Asuna asked, non-gamer that she was.

"A side scrolling MMO," Kirito explained patiently. "It's pretty popular despite being over a decade old."

"I still played it!" Sayaka protested. "I reached level 200 on three characters!"

"Yeah, it got so easy to level up, that's not even an achievement anymore," Kirito deadpanned.

"Mugiii!"

Ryu sniggered as he elbowed Sayaka teasingly. "If you want, I can give you a shiny medal for it later," he told her jokingly.

"Don't tease me!" Sayaka kicked Ryu's leg.

He didn't budge one bit.

"And right into the shinguard," Ryu commented, looking down at said scuffed shinguard. "Wow… bad aim."

Sayaka grumbled something about armoured tanks and jumped up onto his shoulders. "Carry me as punishment for teasing me," she growled, settling her legs around his neck.

Ryu chuckled as he adjusted his balance a bit, his hands reaching up to steady her. "Just don't choke me, alright?" he requested calmly. "Good view from up there?"

"Mmm hmm!" Sayaka nodded, just before she let out a small squeak as Ryu's hair brushed against… _something_.

"Got to be careful with your movement," Ryu whispered to her quietly, red dusting his cheeks as he felt a… _certain place_ of hers.

"Uh… Umm… Yeah…" a suddenly meek Sayaka adjusted her own grip and dismissed the harassment warning window.

"That thing just keeps popping up around the two of them," Kirito murmured to Asuna as they walked. "I'm starting to wonder if it really is on accident."

"So… _that_ is normal between them?" Branwen questioned, trying to hide her nervousness of the situation.

"Apparently," Agil smirked as he continued in a teasing tone, "I'm starting to wonder if Ryu is actually a master pervert in disguise."

"I find that _highly_ unlikely," Kirito denied, shaking his head. "Some of those… *ahem* _incidents_ were caused by Sayaka."

"I think she secretly likes them," Asuna noted.

"Obviously," Agil snorted.

"Stupid cow chested…" Branwen muttered under her breath angrily, looking at the pair with narrowed eyes.

Luckily no one else had heard the foreign girl muttering.

"Let's go, the quest isn't going to clear itself while we sit around," Kirito spoke up, looking over towards the main gate of the city.

"Sounds good to me!" Ryu called out as he followed the black clad [Beater]. "I look forward to see the burning fields of monsters…"

"Pyromaniac," Agil fired at the other tank in their party.

"The Roof, the roof, the roof is on fire~," Ryu sang cheekily. "It don't need no water let the mother*bleep*er burn~!"

"I want to see fields of dead monsters," Sayaka giggled.

"Not gonna happen when they dissolve on death," Kirito deadpanned. Inwardly he wondered what he had ever done in life to get stuck with this bunch of psychos…

"Mugi."

"Hm, maybe if we ask nicely, [Cardinal] could patch that for us," Ryu mused, a wide grin on his face as he looked up at Sayaka.

Sayaka put her hands together in a praying pose and closed her eyes.

"The heck are you two doing…" Agil groaned. "Come on, let's just go get this quest done."

The said pair of 'psychos' laughed as they started moving again, heading to the harvest point for Ryu's ingredients to burn all foes to ash.

* * *

 **Meanwhile - with the Rangers**

* * *

"Alright, there they are." Jordan informed, looking through his binoculars at the small encampment of Drow Elves in the middle of the forest. "The grunts are in the lower 20's, though there are a few higher-ranking ones as well like Elite warriors."

"Gameplan?" Dennis asked.

"The Elites are the biggest threat," He said, "But those small fries will give us trouble… Rossa, Lux and I will deal with the grunts, you and Ron should tank it out, lure those elites away while we mop up the stragglers."

"Should be easy enough to do in theory. And there's plan B if everything goes to hell." Ron held up the black grenade, which everyone had begun privately coining 'the Black Death'.

"That's _last resort_ though." Jordan reaffirmed, "As in 'We are all going to die here' last resort - I'd like to save those things for Boss battles. Anyways, we'll sneak up their rear guards, you two move up front. Once I give the word, we all attack at once and take our targets. We good?"

"I'm good. Anyone for fire?" Ron pulled out a pair of red grenades, preparing to light the fuses.

Jordan glanced around at the others, who all shrugged. "Might as well - cause a distraction." He said, "Lob e'm out first, hit the center and cause extra burn damage. Anyone bring Marshmallows?"

"I wish." Ron snuck away, moving into position while putting one of the grenades away, pulling out the makeshift lighter to light the fuse.

The grinder was a patient one: to grind, you had to have the will and the patience to do it.

The small group crawled into position towards the dark elf encampment, moving into position. "Alright..." Jaden said, "Three… two… one… NOW!"

* * *

 **Monster Den - with the Union Blades**

* * *

"Yeah, pretty boy?" Ryu called out as the guild-to-be looked into the cave before them. "Glad we made the pit stop… that's… a _lot_ of monsters."

Sayaka was practically bouncing on her feet. "There's so much armour I could make with those mats!" she declared exuberantly.

"Right, even with Ryu-san's grenades this'll be tough," Kirito murmured as he looked at the veritable horde of monsters. "Thankfully they're not very high level, it'll take a while, but we should be able to clear them out without _too_ much difficulty."

"ORYAAAAA!" Sayaka went charging off into the horde, her odachi drawn.

"Wait, Saya-chan!" Asuna ran off after the younger girl. "Don't go running off on your own!"

"Oh fer cryin out loud!" Ryu cursed as he leapt forward. "Saya! Get back! I haven't thrown the grenades yet!"

Luckily Asuna, being one of the faster members of the group, caught up with the girl and held her back before she ended up knee-deep in the horde. "Saya-chan, you shouldn't do things like that!" the brunette scolded.

Almost instantly the little demon was in a seiza position in front of her surrogate older sister. "Hai, onee-sama…" she bowed her head in shame. "I got too excited…"

"Just… don't scare us like that again, okay?" Ryu requested with a relieved sigh as he stepped between the two girls and the horde, ready to take action if the horde moved. "Don't start imitating my friends now, alright, Saya?"

"Okay…" Sayaka's head drooped - even her tail made its way between her legs and her long, pointed ears drooped.

"No harm done," Kirito assured her as he stepped up. "Don't worry, we'll get started in a minute, just need Ryu to firebomb them a bit."

"Tom-kun, hurry up!" Sayaka regained her cheer as she practically teleported to Ryu's side and began rubbing against his side where she knew he kept his bombs in the pouch there.

"I can't reach them with you smothering them like that," Ryu commented dryly, a smirk on his features. "Not that I don't appreciate the feeling… I just can't feel it with plate metal on."

"Mugyuu," Sayaka pouted and backed off to let him access the pouch.

Ryu chuckled as he patted her head before pulling out a trio of bombs. "Alright, at times like this… I which I had cluster grenades, just one of them would cause _so_ much damage," he sighed to himself. "Ah well, a project for later, right now however, burning time! Grenades out!"

"Fire in the hole!" Sayaka cheered as the grenades flew towards the horde below.

Moments later the cavern below erupted in flames, causing most of the monsters to screech and start running around in a panic to try and escape the fire. Most of them quickly burned out and exploded into particles.

"This better not ruin their mats," Sayaka realized.

"I can make it up to you later with a farming run," Ryu promised as he watched the burning below with a wide grin. "Dear lord do I _love_ the smell of napalm in the morning."

"It's not morning anymore," Agil pointed out.

"Don't ruin this for me," Ryu sighed. "I mean, I would take a picture if I had a camera."

"Screenshot function in your menu," Kirito pointed out. "Not common knowledge."

Ryu grinned and quickly navigated his menu and took the picture. "When I get out of here, I am making that my computer's wallpaper," he announced. "So, we actually going down there, or should I huck a few more grenades?"

"Let's go down there!" Sayaka cheered. "I want to get in on the action!"

"Yeah, can't let you hog all the experience," Kirito commented dryly. "That took out _far_ more than I was expecting, which isn't a bad thing."

"ORYAAAAAA!" Sayaka charged forward again.

This time she wasn't alone as Ryu thumped after her, jumping down to land amongst the monsters, his sword and shield at the ready as he began to aggro the group. "Your mothers must be _damned_ ugly if you take even a percentage after them!" he [Taunted] loudly.

"I don't think the monsters even understand that!" Kirito shouted as he dove into the fray as well, streaks of light punctuating every slash, every cut his one-handed sword carved through the monsters.

"Who cares? It gets their attention!" Ryu shouted back as he held off a pair of [Venomous Naga]s with his shield as he stabbed a [Berserk Nymph] in the stomach. "So make the most of it!"

Sayaka jumped in and intervened with her trademark [Sprint Attack], lopping off the snakes' heads and causing them to shatter into particles. "Snakeskin armour!" she cheered, running off after more snakes.

"She's… excitable," Branwen commented nervously to Asuna as she watched, keeping a [Carnivorous Treant] away with her spear.. "Is she… always like this?"

"It's… kind of her way of coping with the mess we got into," Asuna laughed sheepishly. "She had a traumatic experience during the first floor boss fight."

"Oh…" Branwen murmured dumbly unsure of what to say. "Alright then…"

"She's got some weird obsession with armour," Agil shrugged. "Not complaining, she usually ends up making good ones. Then when she ditches them I get them and can sell them for a pretty col."

"Well, I guess we all have our ways of coping," Branwen relented. "I started diving into alchemy after… _that_ happened."

"I think we'll get along quite well…" Agil had a businessman-like glint in his eyes.

"25% cut plus costs," the German-born said automatically.

"Deal," Agil stretched out a hand.

"That was quick," Branwen said suspiciously as she grabbed his hand.

"Eh, it's a pretty good deal," Agil smirked.

"Alright then," Branwen agreed. "Should we… help them?"

"Of course we should," the African-American agreed. "I don't want to leech off them."

"Alright, let's get to it then," Branwen stated resolutely as she moved forward with her spear to gore a [Berserker Nymph] through the throat and slammed it into the ground, shattering it into polygons.

"Haaaah!" Agil let out a war cry and charged into the fray, swinging his axe hard enough to decapitate one of the mobs instantly, even without a Sword Skill.

"And Agil proves the worthwhileness of using nothing but strength and swinging for the stands," Ryu commented jokingly.

"Shut up, you," Agil fired back and continued swinging.

"Hey! That was a compliment!" Ryu protested loudly, a grin on his face as he used his shield to smash a [Carnivorous Treant].

"Making it sound like I don't know about the finer points of using… this!" Agil grunted as his axe glowed blue and he spun his axe in a full circle around him, cleaving apart several mobs at once with the [Whirlwind] Sword Skill.

"Ah, have some fun big guy!" Ryu called out, blocking several blows from a mob. "Sayaka, switch!"

"ORYAAA!" Sayaka reacted instantly, jumping in front of the mob and dispatching it with a well-placed swing to its midsection.

"Good job, Saya!" Ryu called out as he turned to the next mob.

"Heehee! Praise me more!" the little demon giggled and sprang off to assist Kirito, her tail wagging in delight as she did.

' _Looks like she is doing better,_ ' Ryu thought to himself in relief as he moved to cover Asuna's flank as she duelled with a [Berserk Nymph]. "You holding out alright?" he called out in question.

"Haaah!" Asuna shouted out as she unleashed her trademark [Linear] spam into the mob, outright piercing its meagre armour and turning it into so many particles. "No problem," she breathed.

"Damn, I'm starting to get Zerg Rush flashbacks when I tried to play Starcraft II online," Ryu joked as he placed his shield between himself and a pair of archer mobs. "A never ending swarm."

"Getting tired out already? It's barely been a few minutes!" Agil fired at Ryu good-naturedly.

"I'm barely even breaking a sweat too!" Kirito joined in the fun even while dispatching a pair of nymphs in one swing.

"Yeah try swinging your sword around when you have a goddamn tower shield and heavy armor on!" Ryu called out in return as he smashed his shield into a mob.

"You don't even need to swing your sword when you can just shield bash them!" Kirito joked.

Ryu looked over to Kirito with a deadpanned look. "Yeah, because it _always_ does such damage, _especially_ against bosses," he said dryly. "Why don't _you_ give it a try."

"I don't use shields anyway, that's your job!" the Beater had to yell over the sounds of monsters shattering into polygons.

"Then stop telling me how to do my job!" Ryu retorted, smashing another monster. "And it's my right to bitch about my job!"

"Ryu-kun, can you make bows out of these Treants?" Sayaka suddenly popped in with a completely off-topic question innocently. "They look like they'd make good ones!"

"Y'know, I just might be able to do that," Ryu agreed with a nod. "I'll give it a try once we're finished here."

"Yay! Because I have no idea how wood will make good armour…" Sayaka held up a severed branch that was somehow _still_ twitching, even in death.

"Other than shields… I don't see it being made into good armor," Ryu nodded. "How many are left?"

"Still… a long… way to go!" Kirito grunted, diving into another bunch of mobs with Asuna hot on his tail in support. "We need to keep up the pace until tonight!"

"Well, hi ho silver and all that crap," Ryu muttered to himself before letting out a yell and charged into another group of mobs, his shield smashing into them as Sayaka came in behind him.

The fighting would indeed last into the night…

* * *

 **Several Hours later**

* * *

"Please… please let this be the last one," Ryu panted as he used his foot to shove a [Venomous Naga] off of his sword. "The mind is willing… but the flesh is limited…"

It had taken a while, but they had eventually cleared out just about enough mobs to clear the terms of their Guild quest. The other one given by the elf had been long cleared, requiring a lot less kills. Still, considering they had been in there farming for hours straight, their endurance was at their limit.

The only one who was still fighting like he wasn't feeling the dull ache in his muscles, even simulated, was Kirito.

Sayaka was already lying face-down on the ground, having decided to take an impromptu dirt nap immediately after killing a mob. "I can't move a muscle…" she said, her voice muffled by the ground.

"Me… neither…" Asuna was breathing heavily while standing protectively over her surrogate little sister, though it really wasn't needed considering Kirito was still cleaning house with the mobs.

"My everything hurts," Branwen moaned as she went through her inventory to pull out some pain blocking potions. "Here… these should help."

"I tried them… but they don't do… anything about mental fatigue…" Agil groaned from the wall he was lying against. "The only way to fix this… is a good night's rest…"

"How's Kirito-san keeping it up anyway…?" Sayaka turned her head to look at the Beater.

"It's all in your mind. If you have the willpower to ignore it, you can keep on going," the swordsman explained as he carved into another [Carnivorous Treant].

"Well, we're just humans here pretty boy," Ryu said dryly. "We should pull out and head into town, it's gotta be night time already."

"Just a moment," Kirito held up a hand as another mob spawned nearby, and immediately jammed his sword into its head. "That's the quest done," he announced proudly, swinging his sword off to his right, before bringing it up and over his shoulder into its sheath on his back with an exaggerated motion.

Ryu rolled his eyes in response before moving over to Sayaka. "C'mon, I'll carry you back to the Inn," he offered her, holding out his hand for her to take.

"Munyaaa…" Sayaka's hand crawled along the ground weakly towards his. "Too… tired…"

Ryu chuckled before kneeling down and gathered her into his arms bridal style before standing back up. "Go ahead and take a nap, we can let Kirito fight anyone who shows up since he seems to think he's Superman," he told her quietly as he adjusted her slightly for an easier carrying position while being mindful of her wings and tail.

There was already a bubble forming from Sayaka's nose and metaphorical Zs rising from her head.

"I'm actually starting to get tired as well," Kirito shrugged - his breathing was a little heavier than when they had first started. "Besides, this kind of endurance comes with experience and I had a head start with the beta test."

"Kid… I think you need to get a life," Agil commented in concern. "That _can't_ be healthy."

Asuna was staring at the slumbering Sayaka in Ryu's arms with a look that said she'd have squealed at the cuteness of the scene if she wasn't so worn out.

Branwen herself was sending a look that was both jealous and nearing squealing levers herself. "Man… this walk is going to suck," she groaned, leaning against her staff for support. "I haven't felt this sore since I ran cross country…"

"You don't have any muscles to feel sore here, it's all in your head," Kirito pointed out nonchalantly as the party headed back towards the exit of the dungeon.

"Yeah well, this all feels real enough to me," Branwen grumbled in response, sending him a heated glare. "It might as well be reality with how long we've been here."

"Well, you'll get used to it," Kirito sighed. "Especially if we'll be playing an active role on the front lines…"

"Just cut the others some slack, Kirito," Ryu commented as he sighed. "Not everyone is a hardcore gamer like yourself."

"Hey, I'm just saying we'll all get used to it at some point in the future," Kirito raised his hands placatingly. "Especially with the way things are shaping up."

"'Tis unfortunate, but we _are_ likely to be one of the big front pushers," Agil agreed. "Here's hoping we don't have any problems like on the last floor."

"Wooden armour…" Sayaka murmured in her sleep with her face wrinkled up in distaste.

Ryu rose his eyebrow. "I don't think I _want_ to know," he said dryly. "Well, after a day like this, all I know is that my bed will feel _awesome._ "

"Bed…" the sleeping little demon whispered with a much happier expression as she snuggled into Ryu's chest.

"Too cute…" Asuna half-squealed, keeping her voice low to not wake her up.

"I hate to admit it… but you're right," the German muttered in agreement, sending the silver haired girl a jealous look.

"Must be quite comfortable," Agil remarked.

"Man, we can't even tease her about it," Kirito groaned. "If we did, Asuna and Branwen would have our hides, going by how they're pretty much gushing over those two."

"Hmm, but don't you think it's pretty comfortable-looking for Ryu too?" Agil whispered, ensuring the girls wouldn't hear him.

Kirito hummed in thought as he looked the pair over. "He is enjoying it," Kirito agreed. "But it doesn't look like for… _those_ kinds of reasons."

"Looking at those two is reminding me of my wife back in RL," Agil sighed. "All the more reason to get us all out of this mess alive."

Kirito nodded, his eyes flickering over to Asuna a few times as hints of red appeared on his cheeks. "Y-yeah," he vocalized.

"So… how's it been going between you two?" Agil smirked as he elbowed the youngest male of the group.

"a-ah, I… have no idea what you're talking about?" he tried feebly, raising his hands in an attempt to ward away further questioning.

"Suuure you don't, so you're just checking out Asuna from behind…" Agil grinned.

Kirito flushed brightly as he quickly looked over to Asuna and breathed out a sigh of relief as she didn't seem to notice. "Don't say stuff like that! She'll _literally_ kill me!" he hissed loudly in a panic.

Unseen by either of them, Asuna's smile widened imperceptibly. Still, she had to keep up appearances so she acted as if she hadn't heard a thing.

"Eh, you'll be fine… Trust the words of a married man," Agil patted the younger male on the back. "Such is youth."

"I have no idea what that means," Kirito countered dryly. "And somehow, your words fill me with dread."

"Oh, don't worry about it…" Agil said mysteriously, throwing his arm around Kirito's neck. "You'll understand soon enough."

"That does not make me feel better," Kirito told the man with a nervous look on his face.

Agil merely laughed in response as he patted Kirito's back hard enough to nearly make the [Black Swordsman] stumble.

* * *

 **END CHAPTER!**


End file.
